Family
by Danu40k
Summary: What happens when a wish demon comes into your life? Xander and Harry are about to find out Crossover: Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Chapter 27 up and 1-20 up and re-edited
1. Chapter 1

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

What happens when a wish demon comes into your life? Xander and Harry are about to find out

Crossover: Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

~ooOoo~

A man, dressed in his best outfit, was sitting on his bed, beer in hand.

The man was just over six foot tall and weighed around two hundred pounds with most of that going into muscle.

He had brown hair and deep brown eyes that shone brightly when he laughed.

But today was not the day to laugh. He was mourning the life lost when Dawn, his Dawn Patrol, his sister, died to make the world safer.

She had jumped off the scaffolding in order to close the portal to Hell that was opening while he and the gang killed off Glory.

Spike was inconsolable. While Dawn may have been Xander's sister, she was also one of the few friends Spike had since the whole Initiative fiasco. While Spike could no longer go out on a rampage against the humans, he could go against the demons.

Xander almost pitied the demons. Almost.

He drank from his beer bottle.

Buffy was having a hard time of it now that she had time to mourn her mother properly. Giles was doing everything he could for his Slayer, but even he was grieving the loss of Joyce.

Willow wasn't much better, though Tara was making a slow comeback however, which was good.

He took another drink from the bottle. Anya was gone as well. One of Glory's minions had gotten her in the back.

Xander fell back on his bed. He knew he had to get up in the morning to go to work, but he wondered why.

He wanted…No needed the love of another. And cried out in his pain.

And was answered.

~ooOoo~

A light touch to his head let him know someone was in the room with him. He opened his eyes and saw Anya's friend, Hallie.

He got up. Hallie slowly traced his hair on the right side and then slowly moved the finger down to his jaw in a loving gesture.

"You are needed. There is a child in need of a friend…A father…Someone who loves him, for who he is, not the symbol he stands for."

He looked at her wondering what she meant. If he was the father figure and friend she was talking about. Of course he was, why else would she, the Justice Demon over Lost Childhoods, come to him of all people.

"Why me?" He asked in wonder.

"You are the best for the job. He has been terribly abused. Not just from his relatives, but from the ones he trusted and looked up to. Those who should have kept him safe. He needs someone who is strong enough to stand up to them allowing him to be the weak one for once. Allowing him the privilege of breaking down and crying over what he has lost. Allowing him to grow up a good man. He is at a crossroads right now, his pain is great. And if events stay their course, he will eventually lose everything and become worse than the monster they fear. He will lash out and destroy all that destroyed him." She touched his forehead so that he could see what she was seeing, and what she had seen.

He got up and went to the bathroom, taking his beer bottle with him. He poured the beer down the drain and then packed his travel case. He came back into the bedroom and started to pack a bag. Hallie watched, and waited.

"I will send your belongings to the Manor." She told him as he finished packing.

"Manor?" He turned around and asked.

"Potter Manor. It will be the safest place for him right now. Soon I will send others to you. Ones who would have been the loss that would have changed his life for the worse. One who was in Hell on Earth, and one who is lost in his own grief. You will need to be strong for all of them." She told him. Knowing that in his strength, he would find the love he so craved. She was doing this, both for the child, and for Xander. She was doing this in memory of Anya. This would protect the one Anya had loved.

He turned and finished his packing. After which he turned back to her and told her he was ready.

It took only a second, and Xander was gone.

End Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Family

By Danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Xander and Hallie appeared in what appeared to be an ICU unit. The curtains were closed and there was someone working on a child. '_Harry_.' Xander thought.

The man working over Harry was tall and well built, looking more like a basketball player than a Dr.

He was well tanned with a receding hairline of bright fire engine red hair. When he turned around you could see the laugh lines in his face and around his blue eyes.

"I'm about ready to take him off life support. Once I do, we'll need to move fast. All the machines will go off and he will need quick attention." The man said to Hallie.

Hallie nodded and moved so that Xander could get a good look at Harry. He was small. Looking around the age of nine or so, even though Xander knew he was twelve almost thirteen. His hair was cut off and stitches could be seen on his head. He had tubes everywhere and even more bruises.

Xander was ready to kill whoever did this.

Hallie touched Xander to get his attention. "As soon as he disconnects the machines we will have to disappear with him and the Healer to Potter Manor. Once we do that, as far as the Mundanes (or Muggles as they are called here) are concerned, Harry Potter died shortly after surgery. His aunt and uncle will be brought up on murder charges and convicted, spending the rest of their lives in small cells, cowering in fear of the inmates waiting for them on the other side of the bars. Seems the inmates will take a dim view of them. His cousin will be sent to live with his aunt. She will soon see him for who he really is and send him to a year round military school so she doesn't have to do anything with him. There he will be the one bullied by those who think him fat and a freak. Soon after Harry WILL have to at least appear once to the Magical Community of Britain so that they don't freak out and go on a rampage throughout the Mundane World."

Xander nodded at this. After seeing what the boy's so called family did to Harry, Xander was more than happy that they would get what they deserved.

She continued; "The one who placed him there and forced him to return year after year, is now seeing and experiencing what Harry did. He is having visions and experiencing the pain first hand. Pain that Harry went through throughout his life with the Dursleys"

Xander nodded again. Grinning at the vengeance this person was receiving.

Xander watched as, slowly, each and every tube was removed. And Harry took his first breath of non machine air. Soon the machines were removed causing a racket. Hallie moved quickly and removed them from the scene.

~ooOoo~

They appeared in a large bedroom. The walls were a cream color with red trim and highlights. The bed and other furniture were made of redwood with the sheets a cream color, the blankets a deep red. The bedspread was red with gold trim and was folded down to the bottom of the bed.

Harry was lying on top of the bedding with the Healer working fast to stabilize him.

Xander watched patiently as the Healer worked, noticing that he was working slower and slower. He seemed to be working over the bruises now and Xander saw that they too slowly faded, though they were still noticeable.

The Healer eventually moved away from Harry and headed over to them. "I've done everything I can. Now it's up to the boy. I'll be back in a few days to check up on him. In the meantime I'm going to leave orders for various potions I want him to take." He quickly wrote several things down and handed it to Xander. "These need to be filled as soon as possible for him." Xander nodded, wondering where he was going to get them filled.

Xander thanked the man and watched as he disappeared with a crack.

He turned to Hallie with a questioning look. She smiled and once again laid her finger on his forehead, letting him know about the Wizarding World and how to maneuver around in it. She gave him a key "This is a key to the Ravenclaw vault. You are the head of that family right now, as well as the Regent of the Potter and Gryffindor families. Harry will inherit those when he reaches his majority at seventeen. You, and the ones coming to aid you, will need to teach him. So that when he inherits he will make the families proud of him."

Xander nodded at this.

She continued; "The key is also a portkey to the Goblin Bank. Use it well and don't lose it." She cautioned. She watched to make sure he understood then continued; "Once I leave, only approved people will be able to enter the Manor. It will also become invisible to the world with you as the secret keeper. Be very careful when you travel around the Wizarding World. There will be those who will seek to either use you to gain access to Harry, or harm, or kill you."

Xander nodded again.

She looked at him for a moment and then continued. "You are Harry's guardian. The paperwork has been filed and approved in the Ministry and I have made it so that it will stay that way, both for Harry's protection and yours. As far as the Wizarding World is concerned, you are Harry's cousin." She touched his head again.

Xander smiled at the information.

She patted him on the face. "I, and Anya, will be watching over you. Dawn as well. The Key is in Harry now so do as I tell you and make sure he gets a new wand soon. The one he has now won't be able to handle his new found power."

With that she disappeared, leaving a shocked Xander behind.

~ooOoo~

As soon as she left, another pop was heard in the room. Xander grabbed the knife that was in a holster in the small of his back and turned to face whoever…he looked at the creature that had appeared…or whatever… it was.

The creature stood only about three feet and looked like Golem with big ears. The creature eeped and fell back against the bed, its eyes getting bigger. "Tuck is sorry Master. Please don't hurt." Xander stood up from his crouch and placed his knife back in its holster. "Who…or what, are you and what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Tuck is a House-Elf. House-Elves are made for serving families. Tuck is only trying to tend to the young Master." Tuck told him eyes slowly going back to their original state.

"Are there more of you here at the Manor?" Xander asked in curiosity. His mind looking at the information on House-Elves Hallie had left him.

Tuck nodded.

"And you are the one to tend to Harry?" He asked to make sure he understood what was going on.

Tuck nodded again, this time faster.

Xander handed him the prescriptions, "I need you to go get these filled and then come back. Harry needs them soon to help him recover."

Tuck took the prescriptions and quickly popped out of the room.

Xander turned back to the bed, caressing Harry's forehead. The stitches and bruises were gone thank goodness.

Tuck appeared with a soft pop and handed Xander the potions. He carefully placed them on the bedside table and turned back to Tuck. "I need a basin of water and a washcloth to give Harry a sponge bath." He told Tuck.

Tuck disappeared and quickly reappeared with the items. Then went to help Xander remove the gown the hospital had put on Harry. Between the two of them, they got Harry cleaned up and redressed in pajamas Tuck had gotten out of the trunk at the foot of the bed.

After putting Harry in the bed proper, Xander went to look at the open trunk. Tuck was happily putting away the clothes he found in there, though Xander told him to get rid of the too big clothes. They were obviously hand-me-downs from his fat cousin.

Xander paused in thought. According to the information that Hallie had left him, he was the son of the Evan's oldest daughter, the black sheep of the family, she had gone and married an American who was about to be discharged from the Military.

The family had no problem with the fact that the man was an American. They had a problem with the fact he was still a private after five years in the Military. And that he was a drunkard.

Xander's mom had married him anyway, and soon had departed with him to America, to his hometown of Sunnydale. Where, after giving birth to a son, she had slowly slid into drinking and drugs.

Petunia used his family as an example. Only saying that it was Harry's family instead telling Harry that his parents had died in a car crash.

After losing her older sister to drugs and alcohol, and her younger sister to the Magical World, Petunia had turned inward and had married a man who was as normal, from her point of view, as possible.

Xander shook his head, and then thought again. That meant that Dudley was HIS cousin. Xander shook himself in disgust.

After putting away Harry's clothes, meaning Harry's school clothes since those were the only ones that fit him, Tuck began moving the school books onto the shelves that were scattered around the room.

Xander sat tiredly in the chair beside the bed and watched Harry, finally giving into sleep.

After putting the books away and clearing the room of the debris Tuck placed a blanket over the sleeping Xander and sat back to watch the two of them.

~ooOoo~

Xander woke with a start. Tuck was pulling on his arm. "The young Master is waking sir." He told Xander.

Xander got up and stretched out for a moment, and then headed over to Harry's bed.

Harry was moving some in his bed, as though trying to get comfortable. He slowly opened his eyes, and stared at the strange man he saw at the side of his bed.

"Easy there Harry. My name is Alexander Harris, Xander for short. I'm your cousin and new guardian. You're at Potter Manor right now." Xander told him as he helped Harry sit up in bed.

Harry watched him warily wondering what had happened. Last he knew he had been in his room after being beaten by his uncle and cousin for the whole window incident that had happened last summer when the twins had rescued him by removing the bars on his window and then helping him out the window, taking all of his things, and driving off in their father's flying car.

Xander went over to the bed table and selected several of the vials, "The Healer wanted you to drink these as soon as you woke up" Xander handed them to Harry, who looked at them and him suspiciously before drinking all of them, making a face when he did.

Tuck appeared and gave Harry his breakfast; soft food for now.

To make Harry feel better about it, Xander opted for soft foods as well. "Okay," Xander started as they ate, "I'm the son of your mother's oldest sister, Jessica. Basically my mom, your older aunt, married my dad and headed for the states. Unlike your parents, mine DID get involved with alcohol and drugs. It was MY family that Aunt Petunia used as the model for her tales."

Harry continued to watch him as they ate.

Xander continued, "A friend of the family found out about the conditions you lived in and contacted me and I came as fast as I could."

Xander handed him the other set of vials after Harry was through with his meal, then handed the empty vials to Tuck to refill.

Xander looked at Harry; "Hallie, the friend of the family I told you about, got a healer to you. After which we moved you here where you would be safe."

Harry nodded. "I remember Hallie. I thought she was a dream. She came right after Uncle Vernon closed the door on me. After he and Dudley beat me. Told me someone was coming to help me. To…"

'_To love me…_' Harry finished to himself.

Harry had tears in his eyes and mumbled something. Xander didn't need him to go any further. He got the gist of it.

He handed Harry a handkerchief to wipe his eyes on.

Harry yawned. "Go ahead and rest. After you're asleep I'll go wander around this place. I haven't been here before and the only places I have seen are your room and the bathroom." Xander pointed to the room.

Harry nodded and slowly began to move the covers and try to get out of bed.

"Whoa, let me help you there. Don't need you to do any face planting." Xander reached over and helped Harry out of bed and over to the bathroom. Closing the door behind the boy, and giving him as much privacy as he could.

Harry looked in the mirror while washing his hands, and saw that someone had shaved off all of his hair. He could see scars around the scalp which he vaguely remembered having been hit there, answering the question of why his head was shaved.

He wondered if his hair would grow back like it had done before when his aunt had given him a bad haircut, then shrugged it off, heading back to the bedroom.

Xander helped Harry back into bed and lying down. Pulling the covers up Xander told Harry, "Tuck is going to watch over you. So if you need me just tell him."

Harry nodded.

~ooOoo~

After Harry fell asleep, Xander asked Tuck where his room was. Tuck grinned and snapped his fingers together, bringing a new House-Elf into the room. Tuck turned to her and said, "Winken, this is Master Xander and he wants to know where the Master Bedroom is."

Winken nodded.

"Hey wait a minute. I just need a small bedroom. No fancy master bedroom stuff." Xander protested.

"But you are the Master. You is deserving of the Master Bedroom." Winken and Tuck told him as they emphasized Master.

Xander gave up. He was too tired to argue.

Xander let Winken show him to his set of rooms.

First to the sitting room. The walls were a tan color with trim and highlights in a reddish brown color. The recliners were a dark brown the same as the sofa. All three were facing a fireplace. The weapons Hallie had brought from his apartment, were tastefully hanging on the walls. There was a rollup desk and chair set up in the far corner and shelving on the wall by the door.

There was a door on the right that led to the bedroom.

Like Harry's room, it was cream colored. Only this time with gold highlights and trims. The furniture was made out of mahogany. The bigger than king size, four poster bed, was in the middle of the wall facing the entrance. The bedspread was gold with a deep blood red trim and highlights, a stylized Griffin done in Red, in the middle. The blankets were a mahogany color to match the bed. The sheets were cream colored.

He went to the closet and found his clothes hanging up. Then went to the large dresser and found his sweats as well as his underwear and t-shirts folded neatly.

Xander grabbed his sweat pants to sleep in and headed into the bathroom.

The bathroom was also cream colored with rosewood highlights and trim. There was a double sink and he found his brush, comb, and razor, sitting in the middle, his toothbrush hanging from a toothbrush holder.

The sink itself, as well as the tub, were a cream color with the fixtures gold colored.

The tub was huge. There was no way it could have fit into the room. There were several taps above the tub, each with a jewel above them. There was also a shower in the other corner, a toilet next to it. There was a shelving unit between the toilet and the door. Each shelf contained towels and washcloths. Between the tub and the shower were also towels hanging up

Xander decided to play with the tub later and closed the door to take a shower after shooing Winken out.

~ooOoo~

After a short nap, Xander woke up feeling very refreshed. Getting dressed in clean clothes, he headed back to Harry's room.

There, he found him eating lunch while sitting in the chair, a blanket over his legs and lap. Watching amusedly as another House-Elf was arguing with Tuck.

"Dobby is Harry Potter's Elf and only Dobby takes care of Harry Potter"

"Tuck is Master Harry's Elf and only Tuck takes care of Master Harry."

Xander came over to Harry. "Um what's going on?"

Harry snickered. "Dobby is a friend of mine and I was able to free him this last spring, and it looks like he wants to be my Elf."

"Ah." Xander said in return. Watching the two Elves go at it verbally. "Which Elf do you want?"

Harry shrugged looking up at Xander through his lashes. "I've known Dobby longer. But he has weird ideas about my safety."

"Ah." He said.

"Ah-hem" Xander coughed loudly getting the House-Elves attention. "Dobby is it?" Dobby nodded his head very fast looking like a bobble head doll. "Harry wants you to be his House-Elf." Dobby grinned and went over to Xander's legs and grabbing on cried gratefully. Tuck looking like the world had fallen in on him. "Tuck I want you to be mine." Tucks eyes got big and his grin bigger, then he frowned. "What of Winken? She is Master's Elf." Winken popped up. "Winken, I am told we have two guests arriving soon. I don't know when, but at least one of them is in bad shape. I want you to be the one to take care of him. Let one of the others takes care of his companion."

All the House-Elves nodded and, with the exception of Dobby, popped out of the room.

Xander racked his brain trying to remember how to bring a House-Elf into the family. Finally Dobby took the matters into his own hands and went over to Harry and placed his hand over his heart and pledged fealty to Harry Potter and his house.

Xander took Dobby aside and basically told him to take care of Harry or else he would take care of Dobby.

Dobby gulped and nodded.

Harry finished his lunch with a laugh.

"Dobby I will let you go and get settled and get the lay of the land so to speak. I want you to be able to tell Harry where everything is including the hidden things all right?"

Dobby nodded again and popped off.

Xander looked over at Harry. "Need to go back to bed or are you up for awhile?"

Harry shrugged. "I could use a bath I think." He said, his hand wandering over his shaved scalp.

Xander grinned and, picking up Harry, headed over to his room.

"Big isn't it?" Xander said as they headed from the sitting room to the bedroom and then the bathroom. There, he showed Harry the bathtub. "Let's figure out how to use this sucker." Xander said looked at the various taps.

Harry laughed again and sat next to Xander. "Move I played with one of these this last year at school."

Xander gladly relinquished his spot and watched as Harry explained. "Each of these taps has a different smell to it and produces bubbles. If you want just a regular bath you use the central one. Xander nodded. Harry reached over and turned on the first one. A smells of rosewood came out. He turned that one off. He reached for the next one; sandalwood, lavender, a light musk, and so on.

Harry put the stopper in and chose the Sandalwood. Xander watched as the tub filled with a nice smelling bubble bath.

"I'm told by Hermione that you can change these out easily. You're probably going to have to ask the House-Elves how to do it though." Harry told him.

Xander nodded at that. "Why don't you go ahead and get in the tub. I'll have Dobby bring in a change of clothes for you."

Harry nodded as Xander headed out the door.

~ooOoo~

Xander sighed. He was looking at the state of Harry's wardrobe. Or lack of it. This included pajamas that actually fit him. Harry had two pair of what could, in a Bizaro World sort of way, be considered pajamas. The pair he had been wearing and…these… monstrosities. He thought holding up a pair that had a cotton rope tied into them to keep them up. "Dobby!" He called out.

Dobby popped in. He had been keeping an eye on Harry to make sure he didn't drown.

"Take these and get rid of them." Xander told him. Dobby nodded then took them and popped out.

Xander went into his room and pulled out a pair of his sweat shorts with an elastic band along with a cord to pull them closer if you want. "Dobby." Dobby popped back in while Xander was searching around in his t-shirts, finally finding his old shirt that had shrunk on him when Anya had tried to do the laundry.

Xander straightened up and handed the clothes to Dobby. "Take these and a pair of his underwear in to Harry. He's in the bathtub." Xander pointed over his shoulder. Dobby nodded and popped out.

"Looks like I'm going shopping tomorrow. Have to go to the bank and get some money changed over." Xander said to himself as he looked at his watch. It said it was five in the morning. Xander hung his head. He didn't even know the time, or the date now that he thought about it. He sighed again. "Tuck." He called out.

Tuck popped in. "What's the correct time and date?" Xander asked.

"It is one twenty- nine pm, June tenth nineteen-ninety-three." Tuck told him.

Xander nodded and reset his watch, thinking that he had gone back in time as well. That meant that everyone was still alive back home. But at the same time just as lost. Since there was no way he could try to contact them.

~ooOoo~

Dobby summoned Xander when Harry started to fall asleep in the tub. Xander lifted Harry, protesting that he was fine, out of the tub. "Yup you take after me all right. I'm always fine too." Xander quipped. Xander helped Harry into his sleepwear and told him where they had come from. "I'm headed out to shop later, probably tomorrow if you want anything." Xander told him as he carried him into his bedroom, with Dobby following, and laid him on his bed.

"Hedwig?" Harry asked.

Dobby answered. "She is fine Master Harry. She is in Owlery."

"Could you bring me some paper and a pen please?" Harry asked Dobby.

After Dobby brought him the needed items, Harry began to write a note to the Weasley's. Specifically; Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and then Hermione.

_**To everyone;**_

_** I t turns out that I have more family than anyone told me about. I have a cousin named Alexander Harris (who wishes to be called Xander). His mother is my mum's oldest sister and she had married and then went to America with her new husband and Xander after he was born.**_

_** A family friend who had been keeping watch on me, told him that I was in trouble and he dropped everything to come check on me himself, finding out that I had been beaten bad enough to be in a Muggle hospital.**_

_** He and Hallie (The friend of the family I told you about) took me from the Muggle hospital and brought me here.**_

_** He tells me that this is Potter Manor, if you know where that is.**_

_** I haven't seen much of the place yet, but expect that when I am stronger I'll be able to give you a good description of the it**_

_** I am doing well right now and have Dobby to protect me if something goes wrong**_

_** Until then I will write to you as often as possible**_

_** Love Harry**_

"Could you give these to Hedwig and ask her to deliver them for me?" Harry asked as he handed to letters over to Dobby.

Dobby nodded and, taking the letters, popped out to deliver them himself.

~ooOoo~

After Harry was asleep again, Xander finally got a chance to look around the Manor.

This hall had three other bedrooms just like Harry's, with Harry's being right across from his room. Going along the hall, he came to a center staircase and continued forward instead of going downstairs.

The left wing had was much the same as his own so he headed back to the stairs and started to go downstairs and the next floor finding the same as the upper floor.

He headed to the main floor and found; a giant library, a dining room, a den or study, a game room (where Xander's television and games went, as well as his videos and collectables), the kitchens (where he grabbed something to carry him over till dinner), sliding glass doors that led into a domed in pool area complete with hot tub. Xander would have to remember it was there. Harry could probably use it for his sore muscles. In fact…"Tuck?" He called out.

"Yes Master Xander?" Tuck replied as he popped in.

"Could you see to it that the pool and this hot tub are filled and working? I'd like to put Harry in the hot tub tomorrow and maybe when he is stronger, we can get him into doing some exercises in the pool." He told Tuck.

Tuck nodded and popped out to make arraignments for it to be done.

It was starting to get dark so he put off going outside to explore and instead headed up to the third floor to check on Harry.

He found Harry sitting up in bed reading a book. Xander turned his head sideways to look at the title of the book. "The Hobbit huh? Cool book." He told Harry as he sat down in the chair next to Harry's bed.

Harry looked up from his reading. "That's what Hermione said when she gave me the book to read." Harry said closing the book.

"Well, I looked around the inside of the place, and I can tell you that there are places and rooms in here that can't possibly be here, especially the library. So I guess this place is definitely magical." Xander grinned at Harry. "Oh I found a pool room with a hot tub. I ordered them both filled so you can use them to help get your strength back." He finished telling Harry.

"I don't really know how to swim." Harry said timidly, as though waiting to be hit for his answer.

Xander reached out and gently touched the boy on his cheek. "No problem buddy. I know how and have no problem teaching you. After all I did make the swim team in high school. 'Course they were trying to turn the team into Creatures from the Black Lagoon that year too." Xander finished.

Harry looked at him like he was nuts.

So Xander set into tell about Sunnydale over dinner.

End Chapter two


	3. Chapter 3

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank Harry Potter Lexicon for their aid in this chapter

Please note that I need for Harry to have three months off of school instead of two

~ooOoo~

Xander woke up the next morning and stretched. Getting out of bed, he headed to the dresser to get some underwear and a t-shirt, and then to the closet to get some pants.

From there he headed to the bathroom and decided to try the tub. He picked a smell that he had liked, when Harry was demonstrating yesterday, and set the plug and then turned on the tap.

~ooOoo~

After the bath, Xander looked at his electric razor and thanked the Goddess that he had enough sense to do some magic on it and his watch, so that they worked no matter what.

Xander discovered that he could do magic right after the whole Primal Hyena thing. And, unlike Willow, he found that he enjoyed the ritual. It gave balance to his chaotic life. He tried to meditate every night and pray to the Goddess for aid in keeping him calm. Especially each time the group had tried to marginalize him.

After Rayne's spell on Halloween, he found that he was able to do Chaos Magic as well. And after Eygon, he had decided to keep to the rituals, and make sure he didn't fall into the traps that Giles and Ethan had.

He carefully shaved his face and neck and then combed his hair. Then, after brushing his teeth, he headed to Harry's room.

There he found Harry already up and eating his breakfast; solid food this time. Empty vials of potions placed on the bedside table.

Xander sat in his chair and ordered Tuck to bring him some breakfast as well.

"I'm going shopping today. I'm going to get you some clothes that fit as well as some pj's so that you don't have to continue to wear mine." Xander told Harry.

Harry blushed. "You don't have too."

Xander interrupted, "Yes I do. You need clothes that fit. You also need swim trunks for the hot tub and the pool. Unless, of course, you want to go sky clad." He finished with a grin.

At Harry's questioning look, Xander explained; "Sky clad means naked."

Harry's eyes got big and he started to shake his head. "No that's ok. Swim trunks are much better." He said quickly.

Xander grinned at winning the argument.

~ooOoo~

After getting his wallet and things, Xander grabbed the key and portkeyed to the Goblin Bank.

He was met by a burly Goblin; "Key please." He said to Xander.

Xander handed him the key.

The Goblin's eyes grew big for a moment before his face fell back into a frown; "this way Master Ravenclaw." He said to Xander.

"Um…It's Harris now." Xander corrected.

The Goblin nodded and led Xander to an office door. The name Ragnok on the doorplate.

The Goblin, knocked on the door, and then headed in. Xander behind him. The Goblin inside was older than the one guiding Xander. He was sitting at a large desk which was covered with files and parchment.

The Goblin, Ragnok Xander presumed, looked up menacingly before the guide handed Xander's key to him.

Ragnok took the key and looked at it…then looked at it harder. Getting up to bow to Xander.

"Master Ravenclaw, it has been many years since one of your line has come to us."

Xander bowed back. "It's Harris now." He told Ragnok.

Ragnok nodded and sat back in his chair motioning Xander to sit in one of the other chairs. "Master Harris it is then. What can Gringotts do for you?"

Xander pulled out his wallet then his ID and Driver's License. "First off I need a new birth certificate. That way I can get a new license and ID card. Then I need money. Money for both the Magical World and the Mundane…Um I mean the Muggle World."

Ragnok nodded. "We can not only get you a new birth certificate, but also the ID card and a American Driver's License. Would you like them to be as an English citizen or a citizen of both America and England?" He said, getting up and going to a filing cabinet.

"Both please if you can." Xander told him. Watching as the Goblin pulled out several files.

~ooOoo~

A few hours and several questions later, Xander was the proud citizen of Britain and had his new ID card and American driver's license. He would need to study and take a drivers course to get his British license since Britain had different driving laws.

According to his ID and birth certificate, he was born in 1973, in a English hospital, to an English national, making him a British citizen. Since he was taken, after birth, to America, where he received his American citizenship, he was now a citizen of both nations.

~ooOoo~

Once in Diagon proper, Xander slowly went from one store window to the next looking at things he might need. Just off Diagon, in an alley called Knockturn Alley, he found a trunk shop. Remembering the beat up trunk Harry had, Xander went inside.

Coming out with two shrunken multi level trunks.

His next shop was the apothecary where he found some of the herbs and plants he needed to set up his Alter and Anthame. Unfortunately he was going to have to go find an apothecary or better yet, a Pagan run shop, in the Mundane World to get the rest.

From there he headed into the Mundane World and looked at the shops nearby. Finally he gave up and flagged down a taxi. He told the driver he wanted to go to the nearest mall.

~ooOoo~

Once at the mall, Xander headed to the nearest store that sold clothing for young adults (and was not the GAP or any store like that) and headed towards the t-shirt section. He found several with sayings that he thought Harry would like and several that were just plain.

After paying for his purchases he headed to the sports shop where he bought Harry several different colored sweats and then a pair of trainers.

Harry would not be going places much and until his growth spurt happened, Xander wasn't going to get him any pants that would fit right now.

From there he headed to a shop that reminded him of Spencer's and asked inside if they knew of any Pagan shops.

He was quickly given a few business cards.

In return he bought several candles and a small statue of Pinhead.

~ooOoo~

After he was done shopping he headed back to the Manor by way of the Key.

~ooOoo~

Xander arrived home in time for dinner and made arrangements to have dinner with Harry in the dining room. He then went upstairs to get Harry.

He found that Harry was dressed in a set of sweats that he had bought him.

Xander carefully picked Harry up and headed downstairs. Answering Harry's question of where they were going by placing him in his seat at the dining table.

Xander went over to his seat, which was across from Harry, and began to eat. Pointing to the food and getting Harry to eat as well.

"Thank you for the clothes Xander." Harry said between bites.

"No problem Harry. I had errands I needed to do anyway so it was no big deal. Oh! I got us both a pressie." He told Harry.

At Harry's quirked eyebrow, Xander continued. "Not until later. I want to show you around the place after dinner."

Harry happily finished his meal and took his potions then waited for Xander to finish.

Xander came around the table and picked up Harry to show him around. Leaving the hot tub for last.

"We'll get you into the pool in the morning to exercise a bit, then the hot tub. Then I'll rub you down to finish off the muscle aches you'll have. After that a hearty lunch, and probably a nap. If not we'll head into the game room and play around." Xander told him as they headed back up the stairs.

Harry nodded happily. He was finally getting out of bed and reading.

~ooOoo~

After getting Harry on his bed, Xander reached into his pocket and removed one of the trunks.

Putting his fingers on the two green dots, he pushed them, and then placed the trunk on the floor. Watching as it grew.

Harry was amazed.

Xander happily danced around much to the amusement of Harry.

Xander came back over to the trunk. "It has three levels, with most of them being for the library. We're going to copy the books in the library and put them in there. That way you don't have to fight over research materials. I had to in the past and it's a pain." He stated, looking hopefully at Harry.

Harry got up and looked at it while Xander came over and showed him how to work it.

~ooOoo~

Xander woke up the next day and stretched. Going over to the clothes he had laid out for the morning. "Dobby!" He called out.

Dobby popped in. "I want Harry showered and dressed in his swim suit for his exercises this morning. When he is done, have him wait for me to bring him down to the dining room."

Dobby nodded and popped out and back to Harry's room.

Xander then headed to the bathroom to shower himself.

~ooOoo~

After breakfast, Harry happily let Xander carry him into the pool area.

Xander got him stripped of his sweat suit and then after Xander got out of his, Xander let him get into the water by himself.

~ooOoo~

After exercises and the hot tub, Xander got the boy back up to his bedroom. Getting Dobby to help him strip a tired Harry, Xander grabbed a sheet and some oil he had picked up the previous day and began to rub Harry down. Placing the sheet over Harry, Xander flipped the sheet up from the bottom, uncovering Harry's legs. Xander kept the sheet from going too far up and making Harry any more self conscious than he was. Xander took the oils and rubbed some in his hands, then began to rub down Harry, starting with his legs and working up.

After he was done, Harry was sound asleep. Xander had Dobby help Harry into some pj's and in to the bed.

~ooOoo~

Xander himself, went back to the pool to do some laps, Then he went over to one of the side rooms where he had found several weight sets and began his workout.

After he was done he got into the hot tub and relaxed for a bit.

One of the side rooms was a sauna and the other was a steam room. Xander had told Tuck he wanted them working soon so that he could use them with Harry.

~ooOoo~

After Xander was through, he went to check on Harry. Finding him still asleep.

So he headed in to take a shower and then set up a room next to his for his Alter, Anthame, and candles for meditation and prayer. Getting the House Elves to clear the room next to his out so that he could use the whole room for the rituals he used. After that was done he sat down next to the alter and began to meditate. Sending a prayer up to aid him in helping Harry.

~ooOoo~

The next morning, the Healer arrived to check up on Harry. Finding him in better health and told Xander to continue what he had been doing.

He stopped several of the potions saying they were no longer needed, but told Harry to continue the nutrition potions until he started to have his first growth spurt.

On the way out he handed Xander the day's paper and told him he should start to get a subscription. He might find the next few days illuminating.

The headlines in the paper were about a man named Sirius Black who was finally getting a trial after serving eleven years in Azkaban.

This was happening because Peter Pettigrew had been found alive and well, and it was rumored that he had the Dark Mark on his arm.

The names had struck a bell with Xander and it took several moments to recognize them.

Hallie had supplied the names of the two who would be helping him with Harry. And this was one of them.

Xander figured that this Sirius person was the one she said had gone through '_Hell on Earth_.' Being placed in Azkaban would certainly fit.

Xander checked the date for the trial; he made plans to show up. He would take Harry.

He handed the paper to Harry. "The man, Sirius Black, is your Godfather according to the information Hallie gave me. We should plan on showing up to show our support." Xander told him as Harry read the headlines. "We'll bring him back here to recuperate from the whole mess." Xander continued, with Harry giving him a nod.

~ooOoo~

On the morning of the trial, Xander got Harry up early and had him use the tub so that he smelled good. After Harry was through Xander took a bath as well. Today they were going out in public and needed to make a statement. Showing support to family.

Harry got dressed in his best school robes and clothes.

Xander also got dressed in his dress clothes. He had had the Elves wash and press both of their outfits, as well as shine their shoes.

From there, they headed to the Ministry.

Once in the Ministry they had to push their way through both the crowds and the press who suddenly realized that the Boy-Who-Lived was there.

Several Aurors came and moved them off after Xander promised that he would have there would be a press conference afterwards. He didn't promise that either Harry or Sirius would be there.

~ooOoo~

Entering the courtroom, they noticed that it was very plain in many instances. There were no doors except the ones they came through and the one over by the stadium style seating, in which several people were already seating themselves, and no windows.

Xander noticed that there was a chair in the middle of the blank space between the public seating and the stadium style seating. The chair had chains on and around it.

There were two tables. One held a quivering rat faced small man. His eyes were teary and small. His hair lay limp and colorless and he was slowly going bald. He was missing the index finger on his right hand.

At the other table sat a regal man, his long black hair freshly washed and combed. He was gaunt and had shrunken eyes. His face was pasty white and seemed to be stretched across his skull.

_'This must be Black' _Xander thought to himself. Therefore he guided Harry to sit behind the man's table.

Next to them sat a man. His hair was a light brown with flecks of grey. His clothes were shabby and darned in many places. Though he looked young, he also looked very tired and ill.

The man looked over at his seatmates his eyes got wide. His hand shaking. "Harry?"

Harry looked over at the man while Xander tensed in case he decided to do something.

The man held out his hand for Harry to shake. "My name is Remus Lupin. I was a friend of your parents."

Harry looked at the man for a moment then; "Moony?"

The man shakily nodded his head. Harry reached over and hugged the man. The prisoner in front of them looked back. "Moony? You came?" He said his eyes filled with hope. "And Harry? Merlin what happened to you?" He asked looking at Harry's bald head. Thankfully the bruises and stitches were gone.

Xander reached forward so that Sirius could see him. "Harry ran into a bit of a problem with his aunt and uncle. I'm his new guardian. The name's Xander."

Sirius was forced to turn away as they started the trial. While Lupin**/**Moony continued to stare at Harry and Xander.

~ooOoo~

Cornelius Fudge was the first to be summoned. The man who came to the front was a portly little man. He was wearing a pinstriped suit with painted purple boots. His tie was scarlet. And his robes were black.

He sat down in the chair with the chains. The chains rattled a moment before going silent.

He was asked several questions by the woman in front of the panel of judges. Basically stating that; yes, he was the first one the scene, and that yes, he was the one who "captured" Mr. Black.

He was sent back to his seat.

The next to be called was Alistair Moody. The man who came forward looked like he had seen many battles…and lost.

His hair was a grizzled dark grey. His eyes…one was normal, the other…was weird. It was a vivid blue and moved independently of the other. It was in constant motion. Sometimes even moving to the inside of the man's eye socket. He was missing his left leg and had a pirate's leg instead. His face was scarred and his nose was missing several chunks.

When he took the stand, the chains didn't dare do anything.

He too was asked several questions about the capture of Sirius Black. When it came time to talk about Black's wand, Moody stated that he didn't get a chance to check for Prior Incantium. Fudge had broken the wand, claiming that this was to keep the prisoner from escaping.

There was a slight gasp from the audience about this and several members of the press were visibly writing on their pads.

Moody was excused and Sirius was called to the stand.

The chains rattled before wrapping themselves around Sirius.

A gaunt man who was wearing black from head to toes, almost looking like a Burka, came in and gave something to him.

"What is your name?" asked the square jawed woman in front of the panel.

"Sirius Orion Black." Answered Sirius in a dazed voice. Xander figured that the MIB had given Sirius some sort of drug. Maybe a truth drug. Something all the others hadn't been given. Of course none of the others had been chained up either.

"Were you the Secret Keeper for the Potters?"

"No." This simple statement gave the audience another gasp and more quill scribbles.

"Who was the Secret Keeper?"

"Peter Pettigrew." Again more scribbles.

"Did you cast the spell that caused the death of thirteen Muggles?"

"No."

"Who did?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

The questioner signaled to the man in black to come forward. The man gave another liquid to Sirius and the chains released him allowing him to return to his seat.

Pettigrew was finally summoned forth.

Again the chains wrapped around him.

Again the MIB came forth a gave him some type of liquid. Pettigrew's eyes seemed to go funny like Sirius' had and the questioner came forward again.

"What is your name?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Were you the Secret Keeper for the Potters?"

"Yes."

"Did you betray them to the Dark Lord?"

"Yes."

"Were you there when they were killed?"

"Yes." The scribbles were going furiously now.

"Did you help kill them?"

"No."

"Who did?"

"He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named." Another gasp was heard throughout the public area as the quills were going madly on their parchment.

"Did you cast the spell that killed thirteen Muggles?"  
"Yes."

"Why?"

"To get away from Sirius."

"How did you escape?"

"I changed into a rat and went down the sewer."

"Are you an illegal Animagus?"

"Yes."

"Where have you been since you escaped?"

"Living with the Weasleys as a pet rat.

The woman signaled the MIB to come and give Pettigrew another liquid. The chains were removed and Pettigrew was escorted to his seat. Aurors stood around him.

The questioner called Kingsley Shacklebolt to the stand.

The man who came forward was a tall black man who wore a hoop earring in his left ear. The man was wearing a black pinstriped suit with a black tie and black robes.

He was asked several questions about his capture of Peter Pettigrew. The facts came down to Arthur Weasley discovering the man in human form and catching him just after he transformed into a rat. The same rat that was his son, Ron's, pet.

Mr. Weasley had then called him and they took him in to be questioned.

"The only funny thing about the whole deal was the fact that Pettigrew kept claiming the lady did it. When asked what lady, he replied; '_the lady who made me change shape and get caught_.'"

Shacklebolt was excused and Arthur Weasley was called to the stand.

The man who came to the stand was a thin man going bald. His hair was red and he wore glasses.

He was wearing an ill fitting suit with travel worn green robes.

He was questioned and added little more information except to say he never saw a lady before or after he captured Pettigrew.

After dismissing Mr. Weasley, the woman claimed that there were no more witnesses and the panel sitting in the stadium seating stood up and left the room through the other door.

After the last person left, Sirius turned around in his chair and stared at Xander. "I want to know more about who you are." He stated.

Moony joined him in staring at Xander and Harry.

Harry started to squirm in his seat at the attention

Xander turned to Harry, "are you ok? Getting tired or anything?" He asked worriedly. Bringing more attention from the other two and the press.

"I'm ok. The Healer gave me a Pepper-Up potion to take if I get to tired." He told them.

Xander nodded. Then turned to Sirius. "Can we explain everything when the press isn't around?" He asked them.

They looked around and noticed the press was watching them very closely.

Both nodded their acceptance though Xander believed that once they were at the Manor all gloves would be off as far as questions went.

~ooOoo~

It wasn't long before the judges returned to the court with their decision.

"Will the prisoners rise?"

Sirius rose shakily, while the Aurors "helped" Pettigrew stand.

"Sirius Orion Black, in regards to the charges with Aiding and Abetting the Dark Lord in his attack on Mr. and Mrs. James Potter and in the killing Peter Pettigrew and thirteen Muggles. We, the Wizengamot, find you not guilty and charge that the ministry pays you one hundred and ten thousand galleons. Ten thousand galleons for each year you were incarcerated. We also find Cornelius Fudge guilty with obstruction of justice and fine him ten thousand galleons. This money is to be paid to the Ministry."

"Peter Pettigrew, in regards to the charges of: being a Death Eater, Aiding and Abetting the Dark Lord in his attack on Mr. and Mrs. James Potter, in the killing of thirteen Muggles, and the framing of Sirius Orion Black. We, the Wizengamot, find you guilty of all charges. And order that you be Kissed. This action is to be done tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."

"Arthur Weasley, charges have been made by parties that you should be charged with Aiding and Abetting in the escape of Mr. Pettigrew. We, the Wizengamot, find you not guilty and charge that you be given one thousand galleons as a reward for the capture of Peter Pettigrew. In bringing about the notice about this misuse of power from the administration of Under-Minister Crouch and the insistence - even to the threat of losing your livelihood - of giving Sirius Orion Black his fair trial; we award you the Order of Merlin Third Class. Congratulation."

"Case closed." With that the head of the judges banged a gavel down and people began to circulate, the press leaping forward some towards the Mr. Weasley, some towards Minister Fudge, and some towards them. Quickly pulling out his key he told the others to grab onto him and they port keyed out of the building and to Potter Manor.

Chapter Three End


	4. Chapter 4

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement .is intended

~ooOoo~

Sirius stumbled a bit coming out of the portkey. Once Xander was sure everyone made it ok, he summoned Winken and had her make up the rooms on the second floor for Sirius and Remus. He then moved everyone to the Den/Study.

After making sure they were all seated, he went to the cabinet and got down the butterbeer, handing each of them a bottle.

"Ok, some back story here. My name is Alexander Harris I am related to Harry through my mother Jessica, who is Harry's aunt. My mother is the oldest of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Evans."

He noticed both Sirius and Remus were nodding their heads; "I remember Lilly mentioning something about an older sister who had moved to America." Sirius told everyone.

"I didn't know much about my mom's family since she didn't talk much about them." He told them. "A friend of my girlfriend came to me after Anya and my sister died and told me that I had a cousin who needed my help and that he was in deep trouble."

"You have to understand that Hallie is a Justice Demon over Lost Childhoods and when she says that a child is in trouble, she means it."

"When she told me this, I grabbed everything I could and she popped me to Harry's hospital room where he was in Intensive Care. He looked pretty awful with stitches and bruises everywhere. When the Healer finished unhooking him from the machines the Mundanes had him on, Hallie popped us here to Potter Manor." He finished.

Sirius looked dumbfounded. "You mean you consort with DEMONS?"

Xander shook his head. "I was born on the Hellmouth and after I found out about what actually lived there, I hunted there as well. I hunted mostly Vamps. But a lot of the time I also hunted other demons.

Hallie was a JUSTICE demon, meaning that she made sure that her charges, in this case children, had justice for their abuses and against their abusers. From what Hallie told me, the Dursleys are in prison for what they did to Harry and whoever forced him to live there is in a nightmare prison every night. Harry's cousin, Dudley, is in a military academy where he is treated as the freak to repay him for treating and abusing Harry for being a freak."

Harry nodded. "I saw Hallie a few times when she made sure I had food and stuff, but when my uncle and cousin started to beat me seriously, she came in and made them stop, then made sure I was ok. When she found out I wasn't she made sure I went to the hospital and then went and got Xander here to come and get me."

Remus and Sirius thought about that for a moment before deciding that it was better that Harry was safe now that he was under the care of his cousin then when he was under the care of Petunia and her family. They also thought to themselves that at least now they could also keep an eye on things…and Xander.

~ooOoo~

Xander got up at his usual time and went in to the bathroom to shower. He then donned his swimsuit and towel and headed down to the pool room. He first headed to the weight room, then the pool for his laps. After that he went to the sauna and then back to the pool to cool down.

After he was through there, he headed up to his room, stumbling past Remus who was coming down the stairs.

"Morning," he said. Towel wrapped around his neck. "I'm on my way up to shower and change I'll be right down as soon as I check on Harry."

Remus nodded sleepily.

Xander quickly went up the stairs to Harry's bedroom finding him starting to wake up.

"Hey Harry, You want to do your work out today or what?" He asked the sleepy boy.

"Um…give me a minute," was the reply.

Xander laughed and went in to shake his wet hair on the boy. "Hey! Watch it!" Harry yelled laughing.

"Or what?" Replied Xander still shaking his head.

"Ok…ok…I'm getting up!" Harry said as he tried to get away from Xander. He was real glad he didn't have his glasses on.

Xander backed off. "So do you want to go to the pool and work out or just get your exercise by walking around downstairs like yesterday?"

"Um…Walking around. I'll get up and do the pool tomorrow when I'm not as tired. I don't want to be sleeping most of today away." Harry replied.

"That's what I thought. That's why I went ahead and did mine. I'm going to head to the shower. Call Dobby and have him keep watch while you shower and get dressed. Remus is already sort of up. I think he was going to find the kitchen and try to find my coffee." Xander said with a grin.

Harry waved at him as he left.

~ooOoo~

Xander planted Harry on the floor after carrying him down the stairs. Then went to find Remus. Finding him in the kitchen drinking coffee. Xander waved at him as he went to the cooling unit and got himself some soda. '_Huh, going to have to get some more soon_.' He thought to himself.

Harry grabbed the can out of his hand and opened it, taking a drink. "Ah…" he said before Xander swatted him on the head and then reached down and got another one.

Xander turned around to see an amused Remus grinning around his coffee cup. "I figured you and Sirius would find my stash. Only have green tea around the house otherwise. No caffeine there. I'm probably going to go to the store later today. Let you have some time with Harry. Let me know if you want anything." Xander and Harry went out of the kitchen and headed to the dining room. Remus followed them in and sat down next to Harry.

"I arranged for the Healer to come by and look at Sirius today." Xander said between bites. "I figured he would want to sleep in so I made the appointment for three this afternoon…" He finished.

Remus just nodded.

~ooOoo~

Remus went to get Sirius up for lunch. When they came down, Xander pointed to the chair on the other side of Harry. Knowing that Sirius would need to sit by his Godson. Remus came over to sit next to Xander so that he could watch his friend.

The meal was simple. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Xander figured a little comfort food was in order. Plus it was fairly gentle on the stomach.

The conversation was general with Harry being questioned by Sirius about school.

After lunch was over, Sirius, Harry, and Remus headed to the library to help Harry with his homework. While Xander went to the store.

~ooOoo~

Xander and Harry stayed out of the way when the Healer arrived. Sirius was led up to his room with Remus in tow.

While they were gone, Harry called Dobby to find out why he hadn't received any mail yet.

Dobby got an apologetic look on his face, with Xander raising his eyebrow.

"Dobby is sorry Master Harry. Dobby took your letters personally to the Harry's Weezies and to 'Mione. But Dobby hasn't been back to see if they have any mail for Harry." Dobby began to hit his head on the floor. "Bad Dobby! Bad!" Xander and Harry immediately went over to the little Elf and tried to stop him. Harry was finally forced to give him an order to stop that stopped the Elf from doing anymore damage to himself. Xander's attempt failed when the House-Elf ignored him.

Dobby looked at Harry like his world had ended. "It's all right Dobby. You can go to them later and get the mail." Harry said to him.

"Dobby will go now!" And with that Dobby popped out of the room.

"Well that went well." Xander said sarcastically, Harry just raised his own eyebrow at him.

"I thought Hedwig did the mail?" Harry asked Xander.

Xander shrugged. "I've had her getting the paper so she can get out more. I'll have her come down to your room later today if you want." Xander told him. Harry nodded.

~ooOoo~

An hour later found Harry reading the letters from his friends and those he considered his family when the Healer came downstairs.

"Sirius is fine considering what he went through. I gave Remus his prescriptions and I want you to oversee his exercise. Do it like you do Harry's, that seems to work well." He said to Xander.

Xander just nodded and saw the Healer off.

~ooOoo~

The next morning found the family at the dining room eating breakfast. Harry and Xander had already had their workout for the morning and Harry had by-passed the hot tub and muscle rub. He didn't want to be sleepy. Today, they were going to see Darkwood Castle. Harry's ancestral home.

During WWII the castle had been hit by a stray bomb during the bombings of London. The plane carrying the bomb had been shot down as it entered Scotland. The plane itself and the bomb had been removed, but the damage had been done. The family moved permanently to the Manor house.

Now they were going to see if the castle could be repaired.

The House-Elves were putting together a picnic basket of food and drinks as well as the potions both Harry and Sirius were taking.

Winken and Dobby were going along to look after Sirius and Harry respectively.

They arrived by portkey arranged by the Goblins. They had their own man on site and were going to be discussing the matter of rebuilding with Harry and Xander.

~ooOoo~

While Xander was talking to the goblin about the repairs, Harry, Remus, and Sirius went off on their own.

Soon, though, Remus came running up. "Harry has disappeared into the woods!" He shouted as he came closer.

Xander took off running towards where he saw a distraught Sirius, Winken, and Dobby, running back and forth trying to gain entry into the woods.

Xander pulled him aside and asked him where Harry had gone in. Sirius pointed to a small trail. A trail that disappeared whenever Sirius or Remus got near it.

So Xander decided he should try as well.

He took his first step on the trail, then another. With each step he called out for Harry. By the time he realized he was in the woods he looked back and the trail was gone.

~ooOoo~

End Chapter Four


	5. Chapter 5

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

He walked for days, calling out for Harry every now and then; with the forest getting darker and darker the further he went; the branches, less inviting.

He had found himself using more and more of the Primal Spirit inside of him to help him survive since he was no woodsman. Though, at the same time, he could feel it changing and growing, the hyena less prevalent, and wispier. Yet the Primal grew.

The first being he stumbled across was a Centaur, "Manling. What are you doing in our woods?" He asked.

The Centaur was large Roan with dark hair and blue eyes.

"I'm trying to find my cousin Harry. He went into the forest just before I did. Have you seen him? He stands about yay tall," Xander held up his left arm to show the Centaur Harry's height. "And has green eyes." Xander finished looking hopefully at the Centaur.

The Centaur shook his head. "All who enter this realm go first to the Center or Lavondyss before they can return to their realm. All who enter are called to Lavondyss. If your companion is in these woods, then he too is on his way to Lavondyss." The Roan told him.

Xander put his head down shaking it, and then looked back up. "Where might I find Lavondyss?" He asked.

"Just follow the pull." Was the vague answer he received. The Roan turned and disappeared into the woods.

"Well that's just peachy." Xander said under his breath. He turned to go into the direction the Centaur had gone in hopes of finding either he, or another like him. Hopefully to get more answers.

~ooOoo~

Time passed and the Primal Spirit grew. He was less man now, more Hunter

He was Earth enough, that even the Daurog's watched him.

The Daurog reminded him of the figures he had seen that represented the Green Man, with their faces and bodies were made of leaves, twigs and branches.

Xander felt their looks and knew they protected him for some reason.

They traveled together for a bit, this Primal Animal Spirit and the Forest Primal Spirits. Xander watched in fascination as they all slowly turned into Winter Wolves and began to hunt darker aspects of nature.

One night he found himself fighting to get out of the clothing he now wore, shreds of his old clothing and augmented by furs he had hunted down.

He fought until he finally succumbed to the act and removed all that he had on, his flesh feeling wrong. It moved in patterns he could not understand, yet wanted to. His pain wracked body falling to the ground only to get up again as one of the Winter Wolves; joining his pack as they traveled inward to Lavondyss. The Primal Spirit in him finally became dominant.

~ooOoo~

Xander didn't remember much of Lavondyss, only the fighting, in both human and animal form; reveling in the blood and the hunt. Till even he had had enough and sanity returned. His grief of what he had done almost overwhelming.

"Easy young one," an old man with a staff leaned over to help Xander up. "Are you ill?"

Xander shook his head no, then yes. "I have destroyed all that I believed. I am nothing." Xander said morosely, looking down at his bare feet.

"Ah…Sick of Spirit then, and in one so young too. Well come along then, time to get yourself up." With this, the old man lifted Xander to his feet. Xander noticed that the man was definitely stronger than his body would tell.

The second thing he noticed was that he was naked. While the third was that he looked to be no more than ten. '_Great get to start all over again_.'

The old man began to walk as though expecting Xander to follow him. Xander did after thinking a moment.

"What is your name young one?" The old man asked.

"Xander." He replied.

At the old man's raised eyebrow, Xander ducked his head and said "Alexander Harris."

"Hmm…Interesting name. Alexander…Latin…Protector of man. Tell me do you have a father?" The man asked.

"Not much of one." Xander mumbled back.

"Ah…Is that why you do not recognize him in your naming?" The man continued, taking a turn of the road, they headed further into the woods.

"Huh? What do you mean? I haven't given up the last name yet." He stated allowed. '_Not that I haven't thought about it_.' He thought to himself.

"Ah! Then you are Alexander, Son of Harris, much better, though this Harris name is unfamiliar, much like your speech."

At Xander's questioning gaze, the man continued; "when I first came upon you, you mumbling in a strange tongue. At first I thought you a mad hermit of some such, however I looked again and came to the realization that you are but a child. So I cast upon you, a small spell that has enabled us to speak to one another."

"Ok…Where are we going anyway?" He finally let curiosity overcome his melancholy.

"Why, to my house of course. You are, after all, going to be my new student."

~ooOoo~

End Chapter Five


	6. Chapter 6

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Xander was on a deer trail, his staff in hand, and his pack on his back. He wore linen pants of a dyed blue and a linen tunic with a leather belt and bronze belt buckle around his waist. His mid back length hair, braided to keep it out of his tanned face. He had a beard and mustache mainly because it was damn hard to shave without a mirror. It was also a sign of manhood to several of the tribes he had traded with.

Up ahead was an opening in the woods, perhaps a large clearing. If so, he would have to be careful, tribes used clearings sometimes to trap people; to rob and kill them.

In the clearing he saw two men and a boy. One of the men had black shoulder length hair, while the other had short brownish hair. The boy had long black hair tied at the nape of the neck.

Xander carefully entered the clearing; raising a hand in peace.

"Xander! You made it!" Shouted the boy.

It took Xander several seconds to place the name. When he did he looked at the boy running towards him in a new light.

"Harry!" Xander dropped his gear and ran towards the boy. Meeting him as they drew closer. Xander's memories of that time long ago when he had entered the woods coming to the fore.

After a long hug, they each started to check each out, making sure the other was ok.

Sirius and Remus came up and gave them both a hug, with Sirius turning it into a group hug.

~ooOoo~

"So, let me get this straight, you don't remember your time in the woods?" Xander was looking at Harry.

They were back home, sitting in the study. They each had a Butterbeer and were snacking from a tray the House-Elves had brought.

"I remember coming to a fountain in the center of a clearing. There was a boy playing the panpipes sitting on the side of the fountain. After that, nothing until I found my way back to the clearing by the castle." Harry told them again.

Xander had told them a censored version of his own tale and had, at first, thought that Harry was doing the same. Problem was; if Harry had gone through the endless battle that was Lavondyss, he would have been more changed by it. Instead he was the same Harry he had been before the woods.

Xander would have to share his findings with the other two adults later after Harry went to bed.

~ooOoo~

One of the good things that had come about due to the trip was that Harry no longer needed the potions. Or help around the Manor. He had even had shot up to five feet four inches tall. A respectable growth of four inches.

Xander had summoned the healer the day after they had returned from the woods, and had been told that Harry was thoroughly healed.

No one was more excited than Harry. And while Sirius was happy for him, he still groused about having to take his potions.

They were coming out of seeing the movie Speed, with Sirius bouncing up and down as much as Harry.

While it wasn't the first movie Sirius had gone to see , that one had been Star Wars with Lilly and James, it was one of only a few.

(Flashback)

_ The day had been a good one for all parties concerned._

_ Sirius had offered to glamour Harry for their trip to Diagon, only for the group to decide against it. With Harry's long hair and the slow disappearance of his scar, there would be no need. The same with Xander. The trip through the woods had changed him physically as well as mentally. One of the things he planned for the day was to get a shave and a haircut. Sirius though would need a glamour. Anyone seeing him about with a thirteen year old would know that said thirteen year old was the famous Harry Potter no matter what he looked like._

_ They had portkeyed to the bank and after getting some money, had gone down to the wand shop Hallie had shown Xander._

_ Mingua's was even more of a specialty wand shop than Olivander's. For, while they both sold wands, Mingua's was custom made, while Olivander's were off the rack so to speak._

_ They had spent over an hour in the shop, just picking out the components, and wood: __Phoenix and thunderbird pin feathers wrapped together in 12 inch __Ceylon ironwood__ wrapped together with Holywood (another type of Ironwood) Gold lines along the wrappings __Ceylon ironwood__ handle and Onyx tipped__ to aid in focusing his power through the wand._

_ After which, Mingua told them to come back the next day._

_ From there, they headed to the optician to have Harry's eyes checked; finding that he no longer needed glasses_

_ After that, they headed into the Mundane World, or the Muggle World as the others called it, and went clothing shopping for both Harry and Sirius as well as to get haircuts for the three of them._

_ Both Xander and Sirius settled for Van Dyke trims on their beards and all three of them had decided to keep their longer hair with only getting a trim to cut off the bad ends._

_ They had also been able to talk Remus into getting a trim._

_ From there they had headed to the mall. Finding not only the clothes they needed, but a movie house inside the mall. Xander saw that they were playing Speed and dragged everyone with him to see it._

(_End Flashback_)

Now they were headed back home.

~ooOoo~

After breakfast the following week, Xander had Harry got dressed and meet him in the Floo entranceway.

Xander and Sirius waited for him in front of the fireplace. Remus was nowhere to be seen.

Soon the fireplace roared to life and a figure tumbled out of it. His hair, though sooty, was red and he had freckles all over his nose. He stood about the same height as Harry.

"Ron!" Harry called out while bring Ron in for a hug. "What are you doing here?" Harry stood back and began to help Ron brush the soot off of him.

"Your cousin's been talking with mum. We were going to go to Egypt this summer to visit Bill, but Fudge has halted all ministry vacations till things settle down. So your cousin and Remus have talked her into letting me stay with you for the rest of the summer." Ron told Harry.

Harry looked over at Xander, who nodded. "Fudge is having a problem staying in office right now due to his involvement with Sirius being illegally imprisoned. Right now he wants to control as much as he can in the hopes of staying in office." Xander told the two of them.

Just then the fireplace roared again and Remus came out with Ron's trunk.

"Blinken!" Xander called out. A House-Elf popped up. Take this trunk to the room next to Harry's. You'll be in charge of it." The House-Elf nodded and popped itself and the trunk out of the room. "Harry why don't you show Ron around. There is a spare broom on his bed. Go ahead and head out back and fly around. After all you'll need the exercise with what we have planned for you." Xander shooed them off.

Xander then turned to Remus, "Well?" He asked.

"The Aurors arrested Crouch. They found his son Imperioused in the house. His son had been a convicted Death Eater and sentenced to Azkaban where he was supposed to have died. Unfortunately he managed to escape so the Ministry is on high alert. Arthur told me that the Minister is going to announce the arrest today so that he can milk it for all its worth. From what Arthur has gathered he is planning on blaming all the government ills on the previous administration." Remus told them.

"Figures." Stated Sirius. He then looked at his watch. "Damn I'm going to be late. Let me know what happens later. I'll try to grab the evening edition before I come home." With that Sirius Flooed out to his Mind Healer appointment. After which he was going to meet up with the Goblins to discuss plans that the group had come up with.

~ooOoo~

Dinner was a boisterous affair with Ron at the table. He was going on and on about the broom he had been using, _**The Screaming Eagle - Keeper 1**_.

"Well it's a good thing you're getting used to it then since you'll be using it a lot next week." Said Xander with Sirius and Remus grinning at the duo.

At their questioning looks Xander passed down a packet to each of them. "I need those filled out by tomorrow so I can finalize your stay."

They both opened their packets to discover Quidditch Camp information. "We leave Saturday and spend the night in the nearby town. Want to give you a chance to get over jet lag. We'll drop you two off Sunday and come back to get you the following Saturday. After that we have plans for Harry's birthday."

Xander told them at their shocked expressions.

"You mean we're really going to Quidditch Camp?" stuttered Ron looking as though his birthday and Christmas had come all at once. Harry was the same.

"Yup." Xander said with a grin. "Ron, I want you to take the broom you used today, Harry will be taking his Seeker broom since it's from the same company. They are a gift from a broom company in the States. They want us to invest in their company. Their a small startup company with few investors. If they can sign us up they will get some major selling done since we will be using whichever company we sign with to buy new brooms for both Hogwarts, and Gryffindor. So I want your honest opinion on it alright?" They both nodded.

"Good. Finish up and head to the library. I promised Mrs. Weasley that you would have a good chunk of your homework done before we left." Xander finished.

Remus took pity on them and offered his help.

~ooOoo~

End Chapter Six


	7. Chapter 7

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

The week passed quickly, and before anyone realized it, it was Friday.

Ron had taken Xander's words to heart and was writing everything he could on his new broom, proud to have something so important to do.

The two had finished their homework with the aid of Sirius and Remus and were now preparing to go to the movies in London.

The Lion King had just come out and Xander thought that it would be a good movie for the family to see.

They had watched some movies on the VCR system Xander had fixed up, but it was something else again to see it in the theater, as they were going to show Ron.

~ooOoo~

They came out of the movie with Ron and Sirius singing Hakuna Matata, and the other three in the group stayed away from them trying not to be seen with them, while at the same time trying to keep them in view.

~ooOoo~

The next morning, saw them off to the airport. They were taking a plane to New York, and from there, a portkey to Wyoming and the town outside the Quidditch Camp.

It was another first for the group since none had ever been on a plane.

Xander had gotten them first class accommodations. After all, if you are going to go, why not do it in style. The flight attendant had told them that it would be best for them to get some sleep through the flight as it would help them with jet lag.

When Ron asked what that was she had explained it to him and then said that it would be harder coming back since they would be losing time as opposed to gaining it like they were now.

Xander had been smart and had brought several things to keep the boys - including Sirius - occupied for the thirteen hour trip.

~ooOoo~

By the time they arrived at the hotel, it was one am their time and Xander sent everyone to bed, telling the boys that they would get them up at eleven so that they could have breakfast before going to camp.

The next morning everyone had pretty much slept through jet lag and the boys were bouncing everywhere waiting to head out.

At one pm, they were at the camp, Sirius fussing over Harry. The camp area they were in was large, allowing it to hold everyone easily. In the distance you could see the Quidditch Fields.

Finally it was time for the adults - and Sirius - to go, leaving the boys to enjoy themselves.

~ooOoo~

The next week was filled with meetings in New York. There were a lot of businesses opportunities that Xander wanted to take advantage of. He had already had the Goblins invest heavily in tech stock for him, now it was time to meet several of the American companies that combined magic and mundane tech.

Xander had already bought several items of note; CD walkmans, stereos, computers, and he was thinking of putting a home entertainment system in the Manor to replace the Game Room they used now.

They used the evenings to go to shows and to do adult things.

~ooOoo~

Finally, Saturday came and it was time to pick up the boys.

When they portkeyed in they found the boys having one last quick game and sat around watching them play, with Remus and Sirius explaining the game to Xander.

Finally, the game over, the boys came down and got their things. Coming over to the group and giving them hugs.

Xander ran his hand through Harry's hair and looked down at him. "Well how did the brooms work?"

"Great! Much better than my Nimbus. It was like it could read my mind and just did things right when I thought of them." Harry exclaimed with Ron nodding, "yeah, much better than my Cleansweep. Harry's right, it was like it was reading your mind."

"Good. So do we invest in the company or what?" He added looking seriously to Ron.

Ron grinned and bounced. "Yeah, I can't believe we've never even heard of these guys. Their brooms are great."

"Well, I'll be ordering enough brooms to equip the school with new school brooms and the Gryffindor team with new brooms as well." Xander told them as he shrunk Harry's trunk and put it in his pocket while Sirius did the same with Ron's.

Remus held out the portkey and they all held on while he activated it.

~ooOoo~

They popped up in an out of the way area in an airport, the sign above saying '_Welcome to Orlando Florida_.'

Xander enlarged his and Harry's trunk, while Sirius did his and Ron's, and Remus did his. Then they all followed Xander as he led the way outside to grab a shuttle bus.

Walking out into the mid summer heat, the two boys immediately turned around and headed back into the relative coolness of the airport.

Xander went back inside and grabbed onto them and took them back outside. "Ah, come on guys, I'm finally getting warm, all that Scottish cool damp weather and all." He said laughingly. "Though the humidity I could live without." He finished.

They soon arrived at the hotel and, after unpacking the shuttle, went inside to check in.

Xander went up to the front desk.

"I have reservations under Harris." He told the clerk.

She looked it up on the computer and nodded; getting the keys ready for him. "Yes sir, the Ambassador Suite."

Xander handed over his credit card and grinned at her. She handed it back and also handed over several envelopes, before ringing for a bell hop.

Once they were in the room Xander tipped the man after he had placed their luggage in the various rooms.

Xander went over to the large bay window and sighed. He had, of course, been to Disneyland. But he had never had a chance to go to Disneyworld. And here he was, at the '_Happiest Place on Earth_.'

Harry came over and looked out at the scenery, gasping when he recognized the Castle in the background. "We're at Disneyland?" He squealed.

"Nope, Disneyworld. We'll be hitting the parks starting tomorrow." Xander told Harry.

Ron came over and looked out. "Looks like something out of one of Ginny's fairy tales." Ron said, pointing to the castle.

Remus came over. It's based off of the Fairy Tale or at the least the Disney version. At Ron's questioning gaze, he added, "Disney is the company that did The Lion King. They did an animated movie based on a fairy tale."

Sirius came bounding over, giving everyone a hug. He couldn't wait to go there. He had been hyped about it ever since Xander had explained his plans to him and Remus. It took a bit to explain the whole 'Amusement Parks' to him. But once he had it, he was all for it.

Xander clapped his hands together and turned to the group. "Everyone get settled. We are dinning out so be ready in an hour."

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"Pirate's Cove, I figured we could get a taste of things by going there. We have reservations for front row seating where we can watch the dinner theater. Tomorrow we head to Disneyworld. Monday we go to Epcot Center. Tuesday we head to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Wednesday is a water park, and Thursday is Universal Studios. Friday is shopping at FAO Schwartz and the LEGO Store. And Saturday is Cape Canaveral. You will each get a credit card with money on it for souvenirs and things. That way we don't have to play with the exchange rate." At Ron's confused look, Xander explained; "These credit cards show that I've already prepaid for everything so I have all this credit. The card has the information in it that subtracts the amount you want when you buy things."

"But how does the card know?" Ron asked.

Xander pulled a wallet out and showed Ron the card inside. "See this black strip here on the back?" Ron nodded. "It holds some of the information. When the vendors scan it, it talks to their computer and the computer talks to our bank computer which tells them that we have enough money."

Ron stared at it fascinated.

"That's yours by the way. It has two-thousand American dollars on it. This is roughly two hundred Galleons. The exchange rate is about ten American dollars to every Galleon, if you think that will help."

Ron gaped. "But I can't accept this. That's too much money." Ron tried to hand it back.

Xander gave it back to him. "Your parents chipped in most of that since Scabbers aka Pettigrew was your rat. I saved out enough for your school things and a pet if you want it when we go shopping. The rest is yours. Consider it an early Christmas present from all of us. You can keep the broom as a gift for your consultation. You helped me loads there."

Ron bashfully took the card back.

"Here, the envelope's for you as well. There's a wallet in there as well so you have something to put your card and daily tickets in. I'll keep the other tickets here at the hotel so we don't lose them." Xander handed out the other wallets to the others. Each wallet had a credit card in it along with some cash just in case.

~ooOoo~

The next morning it was hard to tell who was more excited to go, Xander, Sirius or the boys.

They got breakfast at a small restaurant, sitting outside, enjoying the cool breeze of the morning.

At promptly eight am they were using their special passes to enter the Park early, heading for the first ride.

~ooOoo~

By one am, they were tired but happy. The park had been a blast, especially when Harry and Ron ran into Ed from the movie. Sirius had insisted that they all have their picture taken with him. And even went so far as to get stuffed animals of Simba and Ed for each of them (he made sure that the Ed could laugh like his character before buying).

In the end, Sirius went through six rolls of photos in his Wizarding camera. These included pictures of each of the tombstones on the pathway to the haunted mansion.

They all looked at Xander when they came to the ghosts. Asking him how it was done. At the shrug of his shoulders they tried to ask an employee only to receive the answer that they were real ghosts.

Not believing it, but not able to get any real answer they were left with the same question every other visitor had; '_How did they do that_?'

~ooOoo~

The next day, while not as exciting ride wise, was still fun for the group.

They had fun going from place to place and sampling the foods and atmosphere of each country with Sirius taking their picture at each stop.

~ooOoo~

Universal Studios was a different exciting with its different thrill rides.

They each tried to outdo each other on how many times they could ride a ride before finally stopping.

~ooOoo~

Finally, their stay was over. Ron had to have all of his stuff shrunk to fit into his trunk. He had decided to take Xander's idea and get his Christmas shopping done while they were there.

While everyone was going through to make sure they had everything, Xander went downstairs to check them out.

Once he came back up, they shrunk their belongings down and grabbed onto the portkey Xander had acquired for them.

Leaving for New York and home.

End Chapter Seven


	8. Chapter 8

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Remus came in, tired and happy. This was the first time in a long time that someone could be with him when he transformed into a werewolf. Padfoot, Sirius' Animagus form's name, came bounding up the steps, then changed back into Sirius.

Xander met them at the top of the stairs, a cup of Chamomile tea in his hand. He handed this to Remus. "Go get changed into the swimsuit I put on your bed then come down the pool area. I want you in the hot tub. After that I'll rub you down with Harry's help. He said it was something he wanted to learn so you get to be the patient. After the rub down I'll have Sirius help you up to your room where you can get some sleep."

They both nodded and headed up to their room.

~ooOoo~

The next day, the family had Arthur Weasley as a guest. Ron was proudly showing him his new broom when Xander came in, "Family meeting now in the study." He told them. Ron looked at his father. "Yes that means us as well. That's why I'm here. We are both going to consult for them." Ron nodded. He had been doing that for Harry and Xander since he had arrived.

The study was smaller than the library and cozier as well. It was cream colored with tan trim. The furniture was a light brown color. On the window facing the room from the right of the door was a stain glass of the family founder, facing front with his sword piercing a horned helm.

Against the wall facing the door was a large fireplace, the Potter family crest hanging above it.

A helm, black on the outside, red on the inside, with Darkwood's Own stabbed through it top to bottom - To show the defeat of the Dark Lord, Alan Bane. On a background of gold with red trim. The crest held in place by Griffins on each side.

There was a desk covered in paperwork to the right of the fireplace facing towards the door with a small window behind it, and filing cabinets against the wall from the desk to the door.

Xander sat at the desk while the rest of the family took seats on the couch and in the chairs. Tuck had moved them from facing the fireplace to facing the desk.

"First up are alliances. Harry, we have unofficial alliances with the Black family," he pointed at Sirius, "and the Weasley family." He pointed at Arthur. "I'm proposing that we make them formal. Basically it will give us, and them, all a bit more power in the Wizengamot, and also gives us added protection since we would be coming to the others aid, now Arthur and Sirius have both told me that there is an alliance between the Longbottoms and the Potters, so we need to arrange a time to go over things with Mrs. Longbottom."

"What's the downside?" Harry asked.

"Basically, if something happens; such as what happened to you last year where everyone thought you were the Heir of Slytherin, or even I when it comes out that I'm from the Hellmouth, things will look bad to the others in the alliance. However since everyone in the alliance is considered working for the light, then it won't give us that much grief." Xander answered.

"We will also be bringing out the family history to show that you are the heir of Gryffindor and Potter and that I am the heir of Ravenclaw. That will also give us more weight on the Wizengamot." He added.

Ron looked at his friend, "You're actually related to Gryffindor? I mean it was always assumed…But really related to him?"

Harry nodded and had Dobby get the family history book.

Together they looked up the founder of the family.

~ooOoo~

Gwalchmei was the son of a family that were directly related to Bedwyr one of the Knights of the Round Table and cousin to Arthur. He had been known as the peacemaker among the group and was also considered to be some sort of magic user since he could speak to animals.

Gwalchmei was squired to Lord Gryffindor at the age of eight and when he grew old enough to follow his Master into battle he did so when his Lord went to battle against the Dark Lord Alan Bane.

When he saw his Lord and Master fall he went into the fray to save his Master's life, ending up battling Alan Bane himself.

No one knows what happened but in the end he had wrested the Dark Lords Sword, Deaths Door (rumored to have been made of material from Death's own Door) from Alan Bane and turn it against its Master.

Gwalchmei was knighted for his actions and given the hand of Lord Gryffindor's granddaughter Mary Bridget, thereby allying his house with the Gryffindor House forever.

During the Middle Ages Cardin (given his own families rank) came to be squired to the King himself. And like his ancestor, came to adulthood during a time when the land was battling a Dark Lord and his followers.

Cardin destroyed the Dark Lord using Death's Door (Or Darkwood's Own as it had become named) and saving the King's life from being assassinated by a member of the high ranking families by the sir name of Malick.

The King had the Malick head of family arrested and executed for his role in the attempted overthrow of the King and had the family's rank taken from them and their lands turned over to the crown.

The King had also knighted Cardin and had given him the King's daughter as a reward raising the young Earl to the rank of Duke and gaining the enemy of the Malick family.

The Malick family later married with the Foys from France becoming the Malfoy family who had carried on the hatred of the descendants of the Potter family.

~ooOoo~

Ron looked at Harry in awe. Harry shrugged. "The lines that held the Gryffindor lineage were slowly killed off by the various Dark Lords until only my family was left." Harry told him. Adding, "Please don't let this ruin our friendship."

Ron stared at him for a moment then slugged him on the shoulder. "Nah mate, we're good." Arthur gave Ron a small hug while Harry beamed.

Xander looked at Ron, "Harry and I are related to the Ravenclaw line through our mothers. My mother was the eldest so the head of the Ravenclaw line comes to me. But Harry's got a prophecy about him where that is concerned.

"Basically during the crusades, our ancestor was on the wrong side of the battle allying himself with the Dark Lord of the time. For this he and his line were cursed. Basically there would only be a person of wand magic born once every three generations. Until such time as a "_Child Born of Power_" was born - Harry. Then the line would split and one would be magical - Harry's - and one would not - Dudley's.

"I have no idea if my mom was magical; however I am, just not Wizarding type. I started to do magic when I was around sixteen. I didn't get any formal training until I went into the woods."

At Ron and Arthur's blank looks Xander told them the censored version, getting a nod of understanding from them.

"Anyway Harry, we want you opinion on the alliance. Should we keep it informal or should we formalize it?" Xander said bring the meeting back on course.

Harry shrugged. "I can't see why not. It sounds like it would be good for the family."

Xander nodded and then slapped his hand on the table, "Approved, now on to the next item on the agenda; the press. Whether we want to or not we need to do an interview with you Harry. Sirius and I have done one to help alleviate the problem, but we will need you to do one to get them off everyone's backs. We have given them pictures showing you in good health, but the public needs to see it for themselves. One of the photographers got a picture of you at Sirius' trial and the public has been clamoring ever since."

Harry nodded. He understood it even if he didn't like it.

"Personally, I want to do it the same time we announce the alliances. That way we can get everything out of the way at once. We still have to go shopping for school supplies so I thought that we would hold the press conference the day after. That, along with glamours, should get us though the shopping trip."

Everyone nodded at that.

"Ok the next item is classes. I know you want to take divination, but you will need more than that to take over the family. As a Peer of the Realm, you are looked at to lead. Which means college and you can't get into that without math. I can see you getting the English you need from your essays and such, but I will have you also reading the classics as well just in case." Xander said looking at Harry.

"If you still want to take divination, then I'll get a tutor during the summer. Frankly, divination can only really be taught to someone who has the gift by someone who has the gift and the more I hear about the teacher there, the more I think she is a quack. So no, I don't want you to take it." He continued with Harry nodding his understanding.

"I agree. Ever since camp, where we got a chance to see how brooms were made, I've thought about changing my classes to Runes and Arithmacy. It will be harder, but I think it will be better for me in the long run." Harry told Xander.

Ron nodded. "Yeah I figured I would as well. That class was fun. I can't believe how much you can do with runes. So I'll probably change out my divination class for runes."

Arthur gave Ron a hug. "Good. Like Harry said, it will be better for you in the long run."

"I'll write the school and have them change your classes then." Xander wrote himself a note to do that after the meeting was over with. "Now I think that is all, unless any of you have something to add." He looked at everyone in the room getting no response. "Ok, this meeting is adjourned." Xander slapped his hand on the table to signify this.

As everyone was getting up, Xander called out, "Arthur if you could get a hold of the Longbottoms and set up an appointment I would appreciate it."

Arthur nodded as he shook hands with Xander. "I'll do that as soon as I get home."

Xander had Ron show his father out while he got down to the business of writing letters. He knew that he would have to confront the headmaster before school started, but he needed to have his ducks in a row before he did.

~ooOoo~

Xander was finally able to get together with Mrs. Longbottom a few days later. Mr. Weasley had set up the appointment and they were on their way to meet the Longbottoms at the Leaky Cauldron.

While Xander was in the meeting with the matriarch of the Longbottom family, Harry, Ron, and Neville would be doing their shopping for school with Remus and Sirius under glamour as their bodyguard.

~ooOoo~

The meeting lasted several hours as they hashed out the agreements of the alliance making sure both sides were equal. Finally everything was finished and they were just waiting for the boys to get back from their shopping.

When the boys did come in, Neville excitedly showed his gran his new wand. Xander noticed that she got an uptight face and before he could say anything, Sirius came over and told her that it was his fault. They had to take Ron to get a new wand since his old one had been broken the previous spring, and Mr. Olivander automatically started to fit Neville as well.

He had no idea that Neville had been using his father's wand.

She sucked in a large breath as though to yell, then just sighed. Looking at her grandson she asked him to show her his new wand as she led him to the Floo.

"So did you get everything done?" Asks Xander. Harry and Ron nod, showing their bags which held everything shrunken down. And then Ron proudly holds up his barn owl that he had picked up.

Xander looks at it. "Cool. What are you going to name it?"

"Simba, after the Lion King" He proudly proclaims. "He's kind of regal looking so he should be the king of the owls." he finishes.

Xander looks at the owl, and sure enough he had that regal look to his face as though he was above such things.

"Cool." Xander patted Ron on the head, and then summoned Tuck to take everything back to the Manor.

Once that was done he led them all outside where he summoned a taxi to take them to lunch.

~ooOoo~

After lunch, Xander led them to a shop he had searched out. He planned on getting an earring and thought that Harry might want one as well. He at least was going to talk to him about it. He, Sirius, and Remus had discussed the matter and hoped that if he got one then they could turn it into an emergency portkey. That way the boys could get away in an emergency if they had too.

They had already discussed this with Mr. Weasley and gotten his permission and the advice to keep Ron at the Manor for the rest of the summer so that he could slowly talk to his wife about it.

Ron and Harry gave him strange looks as they headed into the Koi Studio. There were all sorts of weird people there with piercings and tattoos.

Xander headed in and began to look around, forcing the boys to follow.

Sirius was also looking at some of the items there.

"Ah…Xander? Why are we here?" Asks Harry.

"I've been meaning to get a piercing for awhile now and I thought since we were out and about today that I would do it now." Xander told them while still looking.

"Mum would go spar if she saw this place." Ron says.

Remus took the boys aside and told them just WHY they were thinking about an earring.

Ron looks at him, "as though mum's going to go for that."

"Actually, we got permission from your dad to do it if you wanted." Xander said as he came back to be by Harry.

Ron's eyes light up. And he began to look over everything.

Harry thought about it for a bit, and then slowly followed everyone into the store proper.

Xander and Sirius already had an idea as to what they wanted, so Xander waved an employee over to talk to the kids and explain things to them and answer their questions.

Soon their choices made and permissions signed they are led into the back room where DJ pierces each of them, with Sirius getting three.

Xander, Harry, and Ron also got an over the ear cuff of a lion.

Ron wanted to get a tattoo while they were at it, but Xander nixed that by telling him he had to wait until he was eighteen otherwise his body would stretch it out of shape as he grew. Besides they could probably get away with the piercing, but there was no WAY that they could get rid of the tat before Ron's mom found out.

Ron sighed and nodded his head.

Xander put his arm over Ron's shoulders and told him that if he really wanted a tattoo, then to start to design it now so he would be all ready when the time was right.

Ron nodded again, though this time he had a small grin on his face.

Harry, touching his new earring, grins and says; "Just think what Hermione is going to say when she finds out that we got an earring before she did."

Ron's answering grin was all they needed to start laughing as they headed home.

~ooOoo~

The next day the group got up and made sure that they were wearing their best outfits since it was the day of the press conference.

Harry had been allowed to come in and use Xander's tub and Xander made sure that everyone's dress robes were pressed and their shoes shined.

They arrive at the Ministry where they are greeted by the new Minister of Magic, Jacob Ashton Seeley.

Fudge's ministry had fallen in the intervening weeks since Sirius' trial and Minister Seeley had run on a no corruption platform. Promising that he would go over every department with a fine tooth comb to make sure it was clean.

With all the fallout from the Fudge administration, Mr. Weasley's award had had to be put off until now. So everyone had agreed to have the press conference as well.

They started off with the award then moved away to Harry and Xander, with questions coming fast and furious.

Finally everyone was done and the reporters leaving to file their stories; leaving the group to head off.

End Chapter Eight


	9. Chapter 9

Families

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

August thirteenth. Finally time to meet with Dumbledore. Xander had all of the information for the meeting and felt secure that he could get what he wanted. Especially since Dumbledore needed Harry more than Harry needed him.

The meeting was to be held at the Leaky Cauldron at eleven o'clock, but Xander had arrived early to settle in and prepare.

Dumbledore had wanted the meeting to be held at Hogwarts, but Xander wasn't about to let the old man have that kind of upper hand. Likewise, having it at Potter Manor, he wasn't about to let that man into the sanctuary that they had set up for Harry.

At eleven o'clock a tired looking Dumbledore was shown into the room by Tom. His walk was slow as though he was in pain. Xander had made sure that his chair was against a wall facing the door. The table they were at was in front of him and he motioned Dumbledore to the chair across from him.

"Good morning Mr. Harris. Or would that be Xander?" Dumbledore asked.

"Mr. Harris is fine Mr. Dumbledore." Xander replied.

"Would you care for some tea?" Xander asked after Dumbledore sat.

"Please." Dumbledore replied.

Xander poured the tea into Dumbledore's cup after which he poured one for himself, adding several spoons of sugar.

Xander, after taking a sip of tea, opened the negotiations. "There are going to be some changes made in order for Harry to attend Hogwarts this year and the years following."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrow at that. "Indeed? Such as..?"

"The main one is that you keep your pet Death Eater on a leash with a muzzle. No more taking points off for breathing or answering questions. No more unnecessary detentions. Etc… In other words, it is time for Mr. Snape to grow up and quit treating Harry like he was his father." Xander started.

**"**_Professor_Snape has my trust, though I will talk to him." Dumbledore took a sip of his drink.

Xander looked at the man in front of him, feeling the tendrils of mind magic. "I see. Since you are so rude as to try and use mind magic on me, I call this meeting closed. I will be seeing to Harry's education at home with tutors. I also have permission to have the Weasley children and Mr. Longbottom tutored as well." Xander stood up and, after putting the papers on the table into his briefcase, made to leave the room.

"I apologize. I wished to see to it that you were treating Harry well. You came out of nowhere to take Harry from his relatives where he was protected."

Xander looked at the man for a moment, making sure to keep his face neutral. "I took him from the hospital where his oh so loving relatives placed him." Xander refused to sit down. "IF Harry and his friends are going to go to your school, there WILL have to be accommodations as well as changes."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Also, you WILL make an Unbreakable Vow to not play your mind magic on myself or on any of them. This includes Ms. Granger. And you WILL get your pet Death Eater to Vow the same, the same with any of your other teachers that may have the ability. And you WILL tell me if they do. That will be part of your Vow." Xander was firm on that and it showed in his voice.

Xander sat down again. "One, as I said, _MR_. Snape is too placed on a TIGHT leash with a VERY good muzzle. I hear one real complaint and I am pulling them out. And I will do so VERY publicly."

Dumbledore nodded again.  
"Two, to encourage this, the group WILL have a tutor teaching them Potions instead; Neville especially. He wishes to become an Herbalist and perhaps a Healer. Things he CAN'T do if he doesn't have a good Potions grade in his NEWTS. Personally I wonder how many dreams that man has crushed because of his temper and unwillingness to actually teach his subject to anyone not a Slytherin." Xander looked at Dumbledore as he placed his drink away from him. Not trusting Dumbledore to not have placed something in there while his back was turned.

"I promise that I shall keep Professor Snape on a leash as you call it. As such, I see no need to bring in people from the outside." Dumbledore countered.

"I do. And these things are NON- negotiable. You will either accept this or I will home school." Xander told him firmly.

"Three, they will have a tutor for History as well, unless, of course, you want to finally replace Binns. Harry and the others will need to know more than the Goblin Wars in the future."

"I see. Any other concerns you would like to bring up?" Dumbledore asked.

"Harry and the others will also be taking lessons in Law and Politics. Harry and Neville both will have seats on the Wizengamot and right now are not being taught what to do there. They will also be taught etiquette. I have already picked out the tutors that will be coming with them to school. Their names are Mr. Peter Woodard, and his wife Patricia. Peter will be teaching History, and if needed Defense as well. Harry wants to wait and see about that, but doesn't have high hopes about your Defense teacher this year. The past two didn't teach him anything. Peter will also be teaching them martial arts and meditation. While Patricia will be teaching them Potions, Law and Politics, and Etiquette, and they will both help tutor Neville in his other classes. Until now, he has been working with his father's wand and now that he has his own, he needs to learn to curb his power a bit. He overwhelms the object he is working on at the moment because he is so used to having to force his magic to do anything." Xander finished; looking at the man in front of him, seeing the war between accepting all of this and having Harry at school or not accepting this slap in the face and not having Harry there.

Finally he nodded. "Very well, I accept your conditions."

Xander opened his briefcase and pulled out two folders. "This is the contract I have had our lawyers draw up. By signing these you acknowledge your willingness to follow through on your promises."

He placed both folders in front of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore opened the first and saw several pieces of paper bound together. Each stating that he would abide with the decisions.

He slowly read through each paragraph and noted several added things in there beyond what had been discussed.

"And these other things; ballpoint pens and paper, fountain pens, typewriters, are they non-negotiable as well?" he asked.

Xander shrugged. "Fountain pens and ball point pens and paper for taking notes, yes. Type writer's no. I just feel that the rest of the world is moving into the twenty-first century while the British Wizarding World is stuck in the eighteenth."

Dumbledore nodded and continued to read. He signed his name to the document and pulled over the other folder.

He noticed that it was a copy of the document he had just signed and signed that one as well.

"Is there anything else I might do for you Mr. Harris?" He asked as he pushed both folders into the middle of the table.

Xander picked up one of the folders and placed it in his briefcase and shut the case. "That should do it for now. I'll be writing to Harry and the others on a regular basis, so we shall see if more negotiations are needed."

"Oh, I forgot to mention that the school will be getting new brooms in a few weeks. Harry said that the others are old and many of the spells are going on them. I have also set up for new brooms for Gryffindor to make up for Malfoy's buy last year. Not that it is needed after all, Gryffindor still won against them." Xander got up and held out his hand.

Dumbledore stood and reached out to shake Xander's hand. "Indeed. I wish to thank you for that. We are in sore need of the new brooms."

~ooOoo~

The next day, Harry, Ron, and Neville along with their families met with Dumbledore and Snape so that the Vows could be given. Hermione had joined them that morning so that she could get her shopping done as well as perhaps getting a pet.

Dumbledore freely gave his Vow, while Snape looked as though someone was torturing him.

~ooOoo~

Finally the Vows were finished and everyone was on their way, unfortunately not before Mrs. Weasley caught sight of her son's earring. "Ronald Weasley! Just what have you done to yourself?! I let you stay with a friend for the summer and you come home like this? I put up with Bill's earring, I will not put up with yours! I want you to take them out right this second!"

The others looked at him and grinned. "Way to go Ron!" Said the twins as they got a closer look at the ring and the ear cuff.

Mr. Weasley put his hand on her arm. "Now Molly, I told you about this."

He whispered something in her ear, getting a heavy sigh in return.

"I know, but…." She tried to think of something that would get the child to give up his portkey earring.

"No buts Molly. I agree with the reasons given for this and I will allow him to keep it as long as he keeps it clean." He told her, the other kids looking on. If Ron could get an earring, then it would be possible for them as well.

Mrs. Weasley sighed and nodded her head.

"What?! You mean Ron gets to have an earring and we don't?" clamored the twins, with Ginny right behind them and Hermione looking on.

Xander took the kids aside and quietly told them that the earrings were emergency portkeys. And that was the only reason that he had been allowed to get his ear pierced.

They all looked at each other, and the twins said; "Fine we can live with that. But since we are also close to Harry we should get one too." Ginny nodded emphatically.

Xander looked at Hermione, "I talked with your parents and got their written permission if you wanted and it was something tasteful."

Hermione grinned and nodded her head.

Molly looked from the children to her husband and back before relenting. "Fine but it will not stand out and it will be tasteful. Merlin, what is the world coming to when my children…My _**Children**_ need emergency portkeys." She wailed.

Ginny smiled at the thought of getting her ears pierced while the twins were dancing around.

Xander looked on in amusement, before calling for their attention. "If you want it done today then you better finish your shopping."

A few hours later, everyone was finished even Hermione.

After having Tuck pick up their bags for delivery to the Manor, Xander trouped them out to get a shuttle he had called ahead for and they headed out to visit the Koi Piercing studio.

~ooOoo~

Mrs. Weasley about had a fit when she saw the place and all the "strange Muggles" standing around and talking.

The children on the other hand thought it was "Wicked"

Well all except Hermione.

"I thought we would go to a shopping center or something. " She said as she took in the tattoos and multiple piercings.

"The Koi is a professional place. They are actually licensed for this. The Board of Health inspects it regularly and everything is clean, unlike the ones in the mall where they use a piercing gun. You can't always get the guns clean and that can lead to infections or worse." Xander told her.

She thought for a moment and nodded.

The twins were bouncing around trying to look at everything with Ginny quietly behind them asking the occasional question herself.

Finally, everyone had picked out what they wanted and each was taken in to get their ear pierced. Or in the girl's case, both ears pierced.

~ooOoo~

When everyone was through, Xander took them out to an alleyway and had them hold onto the rope he had had made into a portkey to the Manor.

Once there, he had each of them come forward so that they could get the ear healed and so that Sirius and Remus could turn them into portkeys.

Finally they were done and the kids ran over to the mirror to take a good look at themselves before Ron grabbed the twins and pulled them out back so that they could fly.

~ooOoo~

That evening the group met with their new tutors.

Peter was five foot ten inches tall and around one sixty in weight. He was in his forties with a shaved head and piercing blue eyes.

His wife was a stunning brunette with brown eyes. She was a bit shorter then her husband at five foot five inches, and around one thirty in weight.

~ooOoo~

The next morning was the first which meant that there was havoc as the Weasley's tried to get everything together so that they could get onto the train.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione watched in amusement as Percy ran around trying to find his Head Boy badge. They had been smart and had packed everything the night before…Well Harry and Hermione had packed the night before; Ron had had the House Elves pack his.

Finally they were all ready to go and Xander had them lined up in front of the Floo.

For security reasons they were going by Floo this time and hopefully avoid many of the reporters.

Xander had Sirius go first followed by Ron, then the twins. Their job was to clear the way and make sure Harry had a clear path to the train.

Xander came through last, falling on his butt as he came out of the fireplace. "I'll take the portkey any day before I do that again." He muttered as he dusted himself off.

Xander looked in awe at the large red steam engine. Around him were other families and people were calling out to each other.

He looked around and found a few reporters who were trying to interview Harry and Sirius, with Mr. Weasley and Remus trying to get Harry on the train.

He headed over to the group and coughed into his hand to get their attention.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you need to get my permission to talk to Harry?" He said to the reporters.

He looked directly at one reporter and her camera man. "I should also remind you Ms. Skeeter, that between Harry, Sirius, and I, we own majority stock in your paper so it would be in your best interest to make sure the truth is printed and not the garbage and innuendo you usually get away with."

That seemed to shut her up. And with one final picture, she and the others went on their way, allowing Harry and the others to get on the train.

There they met up with a slender boy. He was pale as a vampire and reminded Xander of Spike with his pale blond hair and attitude.

"Bet you enjoyed that, didn't you Scarhead." He drawled out before noticing Xander and the other adults.

"Actually no, however I would like to introduce you to my guardian, Alexander Harris, my godfather and head of the Black family - your cousin Sirius, and his friend Remus Lupin." Harry pointed out each individual. "Finally, I would like to introduce my tutors; Mr. and Mrs. Woodard. They will be teaching my friends and I potions and history to insure we get the best education possible."

"Meaning you need all the help you can get to pass the classes." Draco smugly pointed out.

"Actually it's to ensure they get a real teacher instead of a ghost and a Death Eater." Xander shot back. "Now if you'll excuse us we really need to get the others on the train." Xander said after taking a real dislike to the boy.

"Oh, by the way, Draco is it?" Xander said with Draco nodding. "I think you should know that the tutors have the right to give and take points. They also have the right to give detention." Xander finished with a grin at the boy.

"We'll see about that. Wait till my father hears about this." Draco said before storming off.

The group laughed at him and finally the kids were put on the train with the adults waving at them as the train pulled away.

End Chapter Nine


	10. Chapter 10

Families

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Xander watched the train recede into the horizon before turning back to the others.

They all headed to the wall and Xander pulled out a rope with each grasping a portion they port keyed out and back to the Mansion.

They came in to the smells of lunch coming from the kitchen and eagerly sat at the table.

Each had a taco salad from a recipe that Xander had given the elves as well as a fruit salad and Butterbeer to drink.

Waiting for the meal to be brought out Xander looked at Sirius; "How did things go with the Goblins?"

"Just like we planned. They were excited to help, or as excited as Goblins get around humans anyway, especially when I brought Madam Bones into the picture. Things should start happening this week sometime." Sirius finished as the meal was brought out.

Sirius, as the last surviving Black, had inherited Black Loan and Trust from his grandfather (who had disagreed with his ousting from the family and had refused to disinherit him). His mother had run the company after her father-in-law's death and, with the help of the Malfoys, had almost run it into the ground with all of the so called loans being made to the Dark Lord and his followers.

The elder Malfoy had continued the practice after her death by proclaiming that since Sirius was imprisoned that made his wife the sole heir to the Black fortune and he had taken over from there.

Most of the family monies were gone and Sirius had plans to get them all back, with interest.

Since he was the heir, he now had control of all of the Black assets including the Loan and Trust.

He and the Goblins had been going over the books and had found that not one Death Eater or sympathizer had even tried to pay back the loans they had taken out, and Sirius felt it was time to call those loans in with fifty percent interest daily.

Starting with the Malfoys.

His meeting with the Goblins and Madam Bones (the square jawed woman who had questioned everyone at the trial) had allowed him to freeze all Death Eater vaults until the debts were paid off, with the idea that later they would liquidate the assets so that the debts could be paid.

After the meal was over they went to the den**/**study to sit and hold Xander's lessons in proper comportment of a high powered wizard.

These things included many of the things that Harry and the group would be learning as a group.

Xander had been studying hard with the books on Law and the Wizengamot as well as the Board of Governors. There were changes that needed to be made and he wanted to be at the forefront when everything hit the fan. They expected the Wizengamot to fall when Malfoy did. So they, and their allies, needed to be in place to fill the vacuum that would happen.

~ooOoo~

**Xander,**

** The trip to Hogwarts was the usual, lots to eat for lunch thanks to the House Elves. We had most of the team in to talk strategy and tactics. They were surprised to find out that Ron and I went to Quidditch Camp. They were asking all sorts of questions and Ron was the one who told them all about the plays he had come up with based on the older players and the celebrities that had been there. He had talked to each one and shown them his plans. Some thought they were good as is, but a few of the more open ones helped Ron tweak them so that they would work better.**

** Ron had pulled out the notebook you gave him and showed it to them. Oliver told everyone that Ron is now the Assistant Coach.**

** Ron is through the roof and floating.**

** When we told the team about the new brooms, they said that a notice had gone out to each member of the team about that, but they didn't know much about the broom since it's a small American company.**

** Ron and I spent a good hour talking about them while Hermione went to talk to Ginny who was talking to the Woodards.**

** Malfoy never showed up to bother us. I think it was because we had all of the team in our compartment.**

** Ginny and Hermione said that he didn't bother them either so I wonder just what he has planned**

___**I saw some weird creatures pulling the carriages; they were black horses with wings only their skin and wings looked like they were made of leather. When I told the others, they just shook their heads since they couldn't see them.**_

_** One girl could though. She is a friend of Ginny's. From what I'm told she doesn't live all that far from them. She is kind of spacey and seems to see things that aren't there. But if they are like the thing I saw then maybe she really does see things that aren't visible to others.**_

_** She said the things were called Thestrals and that only someone who had seen death could see them.**_

_** I wonder why I can see them now when I couldn't before. Is it because I was so close to death before?**_

_** When we got back to the Common Room we had everyone asking about the new tutors. So we told them that you had set things up so we could actually learn something**_

_** Suddenly there were pleas from everyone else to let them join in for at least Potions.**_

_** I told them that I had to check with them first.**_

_** Our first day we had History for the first class and all of our year in Gryffindor wanted to come. So we left breakfast early and went to the classroom to ask.**_

_** Mr. Woodard told everyone that he had expected they would want to come in and had already set up seats for them.**_

_** Boy he made history fun. He made it sound as though you were right there. And after class, since we had a study hall, he said that we could stay in the classroom and he would help with the**____**homework.**_

_** I got more out of that class then in the previous years with Binns.**_

_** After lunch where we told everyone what a great history teacher Mr. Woodard was, soon everyone in Gryffindor wanted to have him teach them.**_

_** He told them that he would have to see since his main duty was to me and my friends.**_

_** Dumbledore just got a strange look on his face, but didn't say anything**_

_** The next class we had was DADA and I wasn't so sure about it, but it turned out to be ok.**_

_** He gave us a test to see what we had learned and told us that next class he would have a proper lesson planned based on our answers.**_

_** After this we had a class on Law and Politics from Mrs. Woodard. We were surprised to see Susan Bones in there as well. Turns out that her Aunt, Madam Bones, had talked to you and the tutors before school started and had gotten permission to have Susan join us.**_

_** After Dinner we headed back to the Common Room where Hermione got us to finish our Law and Politics homework. This was a bit hard since we could not get help from Hermione. We had been divided into two teams; girls against the boys. We may have the upper hand in numbers but the other side has Hermione! And Susan is no slouch either.**_

_** We are to debate each other on the rights of sentient beings. Unfortunately the guys have the Against, while the girls have it easy with the For. **_

_** After listening to Mrs. Woodard, I agree that the laws are wrong, and I want to do something about it. But she says that the best way to bring about change is to know both sides so you can make an informed opinion and then be able to debate it to others without sounding like you have no idea what is going on.**_

_** Tuesday, we had Double Transfiguration. We had a review for the first hour or so then she had us trying to turn buttons into beetles. Neville, Ron, and I kept blowing ours up no matter how gently we tried to do it. Finally Mrs. McGonagall just told us to have the Woodards help us. Seems Ron and Neville are used to putting a bit of pressure in all of their spells to get them to work when they didn't have the right wands. So they need to learn to properly scale back. I'm in the same boat I guess with**____**mine having a more powerful wand.**_

_** At lunch I went up to Mr. Woodard and explained what was going on and he told me that they both would tutor us after Runes.**_

_** Took us about three hours but we finally mastered it. We were sweating by then with the amount of power we had given out. It's going to be harder at first, but I think that after awhile we won't have any problems.**_

_** Wednesday we had double potions and by this time the other Gryffindor's in our year had already gotten permission from Mrs. Woodard to be in the class.**_

_** We did the same thing as in DADA. She gave us a test to see where we were in actually KNOWING what we were doing. After we were done with that she handed out a book that had basic potions and the Periodic Potions Table. She told us the next few weeks were going to about this book so we had better study it. If she figured out we weren't or that we were goofing off, she would send us back to Snape.**_

_** After Lunch we had Herbology. Mrs. Woodard told us to pay attention in this class because most of the ingredients came from here and she expected us to know about our ingredients.**_

_** Neville did fantastic and between him and Hermione we got done the quickest and still were the best.**_

_** After this we had more tutoring with the Woodards and then dinner.**_

_** Unfortunately we had Astronomy at ten that night so instead of trying to take a nap, we stayed up and finished our homework (or at least worked on our Debate and finished everything else) then headed up to the tower.**_

_** We had a late day Thursday and only had Arithmacy in the afternoon with more tutoring in the morning after we got up.**_

___**Friday we had Double Charms first thing then Etiquette in the afternoon. Again Susan joined us.**_

_**Mrs. Woodard told us that she would try and get another female in the class so that we would be even, that way she could also teach us proper dancing. (Ewww)**_

_** Today is Saturday and we went to hold Quidditch practice to get the cobwebs off our team as a whole. Ron is being very serious about his position on the team and making sure that all of the equipment is in working order and had not been messed up.**_

_** The team was in heaven over the new brooms.**_

_** There is no doubt in our minds that we can take on Slytherin and win with these brooms and the new plays Ron was bringing in and lots of practice.**_

_** I told Oliver to train Ron to take his place, just in case he got injured. I also told him that I have a tendency to get injured at the end of the year so it would be best if we had a back up seeker as well.**_

_** He joked that I just wanted an all Weasley team. But he agreed with me and told Ron and Ginny to prepare to try out for back up positions and that he was going to put up a notice that he was going to hold tryouts for back up positions.**_

_**Well that's all for now. I write again soon**_

_** Love Harry**_

~ooOoo~

Xander finished reading the letter to the group and he was quite pleased at how they were doing. They had gotten reports from the Woodards as well and it seemed that even Ron was buckling down.

They had gotten a lot of mail sent to their Gringotts box that all stated the same. Most of the students wanted in on the new teachers. They wanted a chance to learn from a real human and a good potions teacher.

Unfortunately they had to wait for the Board of Governors to get out from under Malfoy's thumb to do anything

Xander sighed. It wouldn't be long before that happened but until then the kids needed to hang on.

End Chapter Ten


	11. Chapter 11

Families

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Finally the day arrived. Madam Bones had told them that she and several trusted Aurors as well as Mr. Weasley were going on a raid at the Malfoy home.

During the week Malfoy had been angry at the Goblins for sealing up his accounts, yelling at anyone who would listen.

~ooOoo~

Mr. Weasley came over after dinner to claim success. The Dark Items were right where Harry had told them they would be. Both Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy had been arrested and were even now undergoing questioning under Veritaserum.

The group as a whole decided that it was now time to become public. Both Sirius and Xander would take their places on the Wizengamot and the Board of Governors. And with the cleanup of the Death Eaters, they would quickly fill in the vacuum left by the departing members.

The first thing on their agenda was an interview with the WWN. Get their thoughts out there for the public.

Then they would take their place on the Wizengamot and "aid" in quieting it down.

Xander let Sirius make the appointment with the WWN.

~ooOoo~

Malfoy sang like a canary under the effects of the Veritaserum, and the Madam Bones had the Aurors picking up people left and right for questioning, starting with those in the Ministry.

~ooOoo~

The interview with the WWN went very well, to let the public to get to know Xander and Sirius. There was some surprise over Xander's hometown, but the interviewer calmed them down by telling them that Xander was sitting in sunlight and had a pulse. That when presented with holy items he did not flinch so the public jotted it down as strange and left it at that.

~ooOoo~

The next day, they all headed to the Ministry to have Xander and Sirius sworn in and seated.

Sirius held the Black seat while Xander had three; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Potter. At least until Harry came of age.

They soon came to the fore with legislation to force all prisoners to undergo questioning with Veritaserum. To insure that there were no more mistakes made and that no one would be imprisoned without being guilty or not being imprisoned and being guilty.

In view of what was going on around them and not wanting to look as though they were siding with those who had been arrested, the motion passed into law quickly.

The days that followed were much the same. With their alliances showing through as they were the most solid grouping.

It didn't take long for them to get most of the things they wanted done and to have basically taken over control of the Wizengamot in Malfoy's place.

One of the things they did do though was to put Mr. Weasley in place as one of the new Under-Ministers putting him in control of Muggle Affairs.

They also got him a seat on the Wizengamot to insure the Muggles were represented as well.

Xander told him that once things calmed back down he was going to pay for him to take some classes at a community college to up his understanding of Muggles. Until then he had arranged for him to be tutored by a Muggle Born that Xander had placed on his team as his second in command.

~ooOoo~

Their first taste of school was the first meeting of the Board of Governors. This met in an emergency meeting in late September.

There again, was a large hole due to the many people who had been arrested and were going to trial.

Here again Xander and Sirius held sway and were able to get a large amount of updating work the school desperately needed. The only problem they had was from Mrs. Longbottom since she was very conservative.

They were able to find some middle ground after meetings with her in private and soon changes became evident.

Students were able to use paper instead of parchment if they chose, at least for note taking. They were able to use fountain pens for school work and ball point pens or pencils when taking notes.

Binns was to be replaced by Mr. Woodard for now and a new teacher would be found during the summer.

Snape would be finding himself with a new person in his class going over each and every year he was now teaching as well as the classes he had taught in the past. They would also be interviewing students much to his horror.

That is until the Ministry arrested Snape against the wishes of Dumbledore.

Snape was quickly replaced by Mrs. Woodard, until a new teacher could be found, probably in the summer.

Sirius was quick in bring in Earl Montgomery to take their places in teaching the kids the other subjects that the Woodard's had taught.

With a little change in the schedule, they were able to bring in Ginny to the Etiquette class as well, allowing the six of them to learn how to dance.

There was a new intensity to the lessons because they knew that they would be going to the Minister's Ball in December.

Like with her husband, Mrs. Weasley was asked to take a seat on the Board since she was "light" and had several children in school at the moment.

While the alliances stood, she tended to follow Mrs. Longbottoms lead more than anything since she was a conservative as well.

~ooOoo~

**Xander,**

** Hi again. Things were a little chaotic for awhile. But I'm sure you know that since you helped bring them about.**

** The Muggle Borns are all happy to be using pen and pencils again. Even if we have to still use parchment and quill or fountain pen for our homework.**

** The snobbish Pure Bloods are all grouchy about the changes. That is what is left of them.**

** Slytherin has been gutted. Those that had to leave were either students who had both parents arrested and found guilty or had one parent found guilty and the other pulled them out to move. From what I hear most of those students are going to go to Durmstrang.**

** Malfoy has left as well. His grandmother on his father's side is sending him to Durmstrang.**

** She is using her money to do so since the family money is gone. **

** Seems the Malfoys and several of their friends made large loans and the loan company decided to call the loans in. **

** Must make it easier to get them to go on trial if there is no money for them to try and bribe themselves out of it. Of course from what the others tell me, they would have had a hard time doing that anyway with this new Minister.**

** The Prophet is filled daily of some new law either being enacted or dismissed and overturned daily so I know you and Sirius are busy.**

** I'm glad you managed to get the Anti-Werewolf laws changed. Now at least they can get Wolfsbane, like Moony, and not take the chance of hurting anyone. **

** Everyone seems to like the new Professors; all you hear about is how wonderful potions and history is.**

** Dumbledore looks sad though. I think it's because Snape got arrested and put on trial for being a Death Eater. To find out a person you trusted, was loyal to Voldemort, must be hard for him.**

** As for Quidditch, Ron and Ginny made the try-outs with no problem. We also got two new Chasers just in case.**

** The game between Slytherin and Gryffindor has been canceled. In fact there will be no game against Slytherin this year. They have no team left. Most of the house is the younger years.**

** Hermione has made it her mission to reach out to them and help them any way she can and People in the other houses are starting to do the same.**

** It seems that suddenly, being in Slytherin is not so bad now that the bad ones have gone.**

** Classes are good. Ron, Neville, and I have finally got our magic under control and are finally doing well in class. It's now a competition to see who gets it first, though Hermione still wins more often than not. So the game is to try and be second.**

** See you in Hogsmead in a few weeks.**

** Love Harry**

End Chapter Eleven


	12. Chapter 12

Families

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

**Xander,**

** Thanks for letting me celebrate Samhain with family. It really did help me. It was nice to finally get to know my parents.**

** We finally had our debate. While the guys and I had the law on our side, the girls had the right so this was a hard debate. The girls actually won the argument, but I think that that is because we really didn't have our hart into it since we agreed with the girls.**

** I know we talked about it when we were together, but I really would like to see better laws for the non-humans.**

** We talked to Hagrid about this, and he said that the laws were part of the reason there were bad relations between the Centaurs and the Ministry. He said it was the same with the Goblins.**

**Dobby just wants oversight, so that Master's can't overly abuse the Elves.**

** Runes are getting interesting. The other day we were studying the Rune-Spells that Boudicca used against the Romans during their war. Ron was going over the fights with Mr. Woodard to see about the battles and how they happened.**

** Mr. Woodard took us into a side room and set up a map and then showed us the battle as they knew it from history.**

** Ron was thrilled and asked if he could borrow the map. Mr. Woodard said no, but set up some extra time with Ron to run through battles and strategy and tactics of history.**

** I figure it would be a great gift if we could get Ron one of those magical contour maps.**

**Christmas is coming up soon and Mr. Montgomery has us learning the things we need to know for the Christmas parties we will have to go to.**

** Lots of dancing and etiquette lessons as well as current politics so that we know what is going on enough to talk to others.**

** We've also been talking Rank. While Ron and the Weasley's didn't have much Rank, they do now because their father is an Under-Minister and their Mother is on the Board of Governors. That combined with their old family line means that they have a higher Rank now. It also means that they are expected to go to the Minister's Ball. Ron says that they are debating on if they should take one of the kids with them, probably Ron since he is the one who has been in these classes with me, maybe even Ginny, definitely Percy; the suck-up. But the twins aren't even in the running, much to their relief.**

**Could you see what would happen if the twins came? Mayhem.**

** Ever since you told us that you would be pulling us out of school at the end of November to have Thanksgiving, Hermione has been talking about the history of the holiday. Going on and on about the thought of giving thanks for something and how we should have a day when we should be doing this.**

** You asked about Dumbledore. He seems tired. Before you couldn't guess his age, but now he looks ****real**** old.**

** He seems to be spending more time in the infirmary than before as well.**

** People are starting to worry that he might not be around much longer. That if he goes, who will take over? McGonagall? Who would take her place?**

**Hopefully you guys on the Board of Governors will figure it out.**

** Love Harry.**

~ooOoo~

Xander read the letter to the others, a slight grin on his face as he thought of Hallie's gift to Dumbledore.

The nightmares and pain he must be feeling as he relives Harry's life with the Dursleys time and time again.

~ooOoo~

Xander was in a panic. It would be his first Thanksgiving with Harry, and he was trying to oversee everything.

The House Elves had banished him from the kitchen yet again, telling him that they had everything under control.

That left him with the other so called adults in the Manor, Sirius and Remus.

"Relax Xander, everything will be ok." Remus said from his seat in the library. He and Sirius were playing Wizard Chess, with Sirius losing, again.

In order to get away from the game Sirius looked at Xander and said; "Hey it's Wednesday afternoon right? So why not go to the school and get the kids?"

Xander looked hopeful for a moment, and then sagged his shoulders. "It's not time yet, their still in classes."

"So? Just head over there and check the place out. We can show you around the place and maybe actually talk to the teachers to see how the kids are doing instead of just getting the letters." Sirius replied.

Remus nodded his head after giving up on the game. "If we do it right we can check on Dumbledore as well. See how Hallie's punishment is doing." He said as he finished putting the game away.

Xander checked the time again, and then headed over to the Floo.

Throwing some Floo powder into the fire he called out for Molly Weasley.

Once she answered, Xander asked if she wanted to join them. "After all it wasn't a big deal to have two of the members of the board show up to see things for themselves." He said with a grin.

She quickly approved and it was a short time later that she came through the Floo to join them.

~ooOoo~

They Flooed to the Three Broomsticks, and walked from there up to the castle. Xander had been there before when he had picked up Harry from Hogsmead to go to Samhain. This, however, would be the first time that he had seen the castle.

He was nervous about going through the Forbidden Forest. He could not figure out why a dark forest was surrounding a school. He knew there wasn't much separating the Forbidden Forest from Darkwood Forest. Darkwood was just a few miles on the other side of the Quidditch Pitch. The Forbidden Forest ended about a mile from Darkwood and it wouldn't take much to reconnect them. Then there would be problems, big problems. Something he needed to talk over with Dumbledore, but at the same time, he in no way, wanted to talk to the man.

They soon came to a clearing and Xander got his first glance of the CASTLE. And yes, in his mind it was in capitals.

It was huge, and everything he thought a Magical Castle should look like. With its high towers and the various banners overhead. Sirius told him that all the major families from the Founders time had a banner here, including those families that were no longer around.

They came across Hagrid as he held class for the upper years. Xander paused to look at the Bicorn, asking several questions about it before moving on.

By this time word had gotten out that they were on their way to the castle and Dumbledore was awaiting them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. May I show you to my office?" Dumbledore asked them. Harry was right, Xander thought. Dumbledore most definitely does not look good. There was no twinkle to his eyes. His shoulders looked like it was only determination that held them up. And he walked slower than he used to.

"Actually, we are here for a bit of a tour before I grab the kids for Thanksgiving," replied Xander.

"Ah yes, Thanksgiving. A wonderful holiday you Americans have come up with. Perhaps, with the Boards approval, we can share in this holiday next year." Dumbledore continued as he showed them up to his office, Sirius and Remus slowing the pace down so that they could point out interesting things.

Once in the office, Dumbledore conjured several more chairs so that everyone had a seat.

"Tea? Cookies? Lemon Drops?" Dumbledore asked as he pointed out the various goodies he had had the Elves bring up.

Xander, being the "oh so paranoid around the Headmaster," chose to ignore these, while the others each had some tea and cookies.

"Now then, what would like to talk about?" Dumbledore asked as he once more tried to entice Xander into the tea or the sweats.

Xander shrugged while Remus answered; "Xander has never been here before and we thought that since we were coming here to pick up the kids, we would come a bit early and look around. Talk to some of the teachers, that sort of thing."

"Molly came to also check on things, and to keep us out of trouble." Xander added much to Molly's embarrassment. "Besides, she wanted to check up on the twins. They have been awfully quiet so far." Xander continued with Molly nodding her head and asking Dumbledore for a full report on the twins.

An hour, and full reports on each of the children later, Dumbledore had Harry, the Weasley children, Hermione, and Neville, summoned up to the office so that they could head off with the adults. Xander was amused that they never did get in the tour and that the others were really complacent about the whole thing, leading Xander with the knowledge that Dumbledore did indeed spike his drinks and treats.

~ooOoo~

Once they arrived, Xander called the House Elves together and had them take the kid's things upstairs to their rooms.

Ron was still near Harry, while the others were in the other wing.

After unpacking everyone met downstairs and headed to the game room. Xander had done what he had threatened (if to no one but himself) and gotten himself a Magical Home Entertainment Room.

There was a theater sized screen with movies all along the left side. His games and controllers were on the right.

Xander came in before everyone and had set up the movie Star Wars for them to watch. So after everyone was seated, he started the movie. The surround sound was as close to THX as he could get and those not familiar with movies all jumped as the movie started.

~ooOoo~

Two hours later the twins were having a "Lightsaber" war with Sirius with Wizarding versions of Lightsabers that actually acted like the real things, without the cutting applications.

Tuck came up to and announced that dinner was ready and everyone headed to the dining table.

Since there were so many of them, the actual dining table was bought out so that they could all sit and eat comfortably.

The meal was the all American Pizza, which those not raised in the Muggle world had never seen or eaten before. The twins and Ron loved the fact that you could eat it with your hands while Percy still insisted on using his fork and knife.

After the meal was over, Xander had everyone troop back into the Game Room for another Star Wars movie after which everyone went to bed.

Though the twins managed to sneak out and head to Sirius' room.

~ooOoo~

Xander awoke at his normal time and headed in to shower and get dressed in his swimsuit. He had asked Harry if he wanted to join in the night before, but Harry told him no. Over the Christmas holidays he would see about getting back into an exercise routine but right now he just wanted a few days where could sleep in. It seems that Mr. Wood was always getting them up at the crack of dawn for Quidditch practice.

Xander had laughed at that and told him that they could play around in the pool later the next day.

When Xander headed out, he was surprised to find Hermione there waiting for him. She had overheard Xander and Harry talking and decided to get some time in the pool herself.

Xander showed her each of the exercises she needed to do and how to do it while he did his own workout.

By the time they were finished; Molly was up and trying to get into the kitchen.

Xander waylaid her and told her that the Elves were very picky about the kitchen and that he had finally given up himself. If she really wanted to get into the kitchen she could do breakfast the next day.

It took Arthur coming down and talking to her to get her to agree. But she did calm down.

~ooOoo~

At ten o'clock, Xander had everyone up and at the table with the help of Sirius and the twins, though everyone ended up taking a shower.

Finally everyone was present and the meal of western omelets delivered.

~ooOoo~

Xander had told them, that tradition was that the men watched football (the American version) while the women did the cooking. However, since the Elves were doing the cooking and he didn't like football games, they would watch some more movies.

Everyone voted for the last Star Wars movie, after that Indiana Jones.

Tomorrow Xander had plans to watch Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, and he had just picked up the Lion King so they would watch that as well.

~ooOoo~

As with tradition, Xander had an early dinner planned so that everyone could take their time eating.

Xander said a blessing over the food and then cut the turkey and the ham.

The dinner lasted for three hours and even Ron was stuffed by the time it was done. There was everything from the turkey and ham down to the pumpkin pie.

Actually, everyone decided to put off the pie until their stomachs could settle a bit.

~ooOoo~

The next day, Xander found Hermione again waiting for him. "You know, I probably can get you access to a workout room and pool at the school if you want. I've been working on a plan for Harry so it would be no problem to add you as well." Xander told her as they walked down to the pool room.

"Really? I don't want you to go out of your way, but if you can I would really appreciate it." She answered.

They again did their workouts with Xander working Hermione in the weight room.

After they were done, they headed up to their rooms bumping into Molly on the way.

Hermione went up the stairs while Xander gave Molly a hug and headed up to his room.

~ooOoo~

Brunch that day was French toast, with bacon and eggs, with Molly doing most of the cooking, much to her delight.

After everyone had eaten, they headed in to watch Disney, leaving the clean up to the Elves.

Fantasia was a hit, especially with Arthur. While with Sleeping Beauty, Ron enjoyed Maleficent, and the twins enjoyed the fairies as they proved by doing to color changing spells on each other with Sirius and Remus' wands. Ginny and Hermione enjoyed the story over all and were happy when Xander told them that they would be able to go with the family the next time they went to Disneyworld

Dinner was later in the day with everyone enjoying the leftovers.

After dinner, they again headed into the game room and watched Aladdin, which everyone got a kick out of and the twins wanted to try and out do the genie. Xander foresaw the twins getting into much trouble with their new ideas.

After the Lion King, the twins joined Sirius and Ron in a rendition of Hakuna Matata, and Xander got the feeling that it was going to be the new theme song for the twins.

~ooOoo~

Saturday was spent in the library to finish any homework. With Sirius and Remus helping, they were quickly finished and Xander had everyone not named Molly get into their swimsuit and head to the pool.

After that, the Weasley kids (sans Percy) and Harry went outside to play some Quidditch.

Dinner was called and everyone headed in to find spaghetti, garlic bread, cheese bread, and ice cream for dessert.

~ooOoo~

Sunday, had everyone up earlier than they had been. Xander had them dress up for breakfast. When asked why, he only told them that they were going out for breakfast.

They portkeyed to London, and from there Xander drove a shuttle he had rented to the Langtree.

Xander was very proud of himself for getting his UK driving license.

The Langtree was a small resort area with hotel rooms and suites, and a large golf course. Nearby there was a fifty-five foot dome made of limestone rock that had been hollowed out and inside was a near bottomless pool of water that was around ninety-six degrees in temperature. Many people used the area to dive during the winter months. Something Xander was planning to do himself.

There was a small tunnel that went into the side of the dome for easy access.

Xander could sense the Weasleys discomfort when they entered the dining area. "Easy there, if you notice, not everyone is dressed up in their Sunday best." He pointed out showing them a few that were in sweaters and jeans.

After being sat down, Xander had them all get up and grab a plate and follow him.

They entered a room through large decorative doors and inside were a buffet. There were cooks scattered throughout the room cooking eggs, pancakes, French toast, serving roast beef, ham, etc…In the actual buffet area was shrimp, scallops, fruit, bagels and locks, pastries, and more. The Weasleys had never seen so much food that wasn't done by Elves.

"Well what are you waiting for? Go…shoo…enjoy." Xander made shooing motions. "I paid per person, not per plates or of food choice so get whatever you want."

Ron needed no further encouragements and he along with the twins headed out. Hermione, headed for the sea food, with Neville following her. The others were slowly making their way around the room.

They spent several hours there. The first two or so were spent dinning, the next several hours was just wandering around the resort.

Finally it was time to go. Xander piled everyone into the shuttle and headed back to London where they would drop off the shuttle and from there portkey back to the Manor.

~ooOoo~

That evening, everyone was ready to go. The adults had shrunk everyone's packages down and they were waiting for Xander to open the Floo to The Three Broomsticks.

Once that was done, the kids headed back to school, while the adults went to the den to discuss the various Christmas parties they needed or should attend.

End Chapter Twelve

.


	13. Chapter 13

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Xander was bored. And a bored Xander was not a fun Xander. He so wanted to prank the guy. He had approached him in the hopes of understanding why his department still considered Centaurs animals. What he got was a dissertation on beings being in their place.

Xander looked around the ballroom. He remembered Willow saying something about one of the kings of France, the one who was beheaded, having a court where everyone dressed up like peacocks. Colors everywhere no matter how bad the colors were.

Seems he was right about the Wizarding world being stuck in the seventeen hundreds, because virtually everyone here was in colors that even he would not have worn back when he was wearing Hawaiian shirts.

They were wearing every color in the rainbow, and even then they were making up colors.

Speaking of colors, where was Dumbledore? He had heard several conversations asking the same questions.

He had a deep foreboding about Dumbles and wherever he was.

~ooOoo~

Xander finally got away from the bore when he spotted Harry trying to get away from that Skeeter woman.

He headed over. "How many times do I need to tell you that I have to be present when you interview him? One more attempt like this and I WILL have you fired. Understand?" He stated strongly.

She nodded her head and headed for another likely source of gossip.

Xander looked at Harry, "where are the others?"

"Sirius is chatting that woman up." Harry said, pointing to where Sirius was. He was deep in conversation with a very nice looking woman. That is until she slapped him and walked away.

Sirius wandered back to them. "All I wanted to know is what her sign was." He whined.

Xander snickered. That pick up line was older than dirt, obviously even to her.

Xander looked back at Harry. "Where are the Weasleys?" He asked.

"Percy is over there talking to the new Minister with Mr. Weasley."

"Ron and Neville are over by the food." Harry finished

At this, Xander laughed. Where else would you find them?

"We finished talking to everyone?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm done." Sirius said while rubbing his cheek. "I want to make sure Remus is ok." He finished.

Remus was having a post full moon day and was not feeling good at all.

"Harry? I don't think you or I would be to sad to head out since neither one of us wanted to come." Xander said to Harry.

Harry nodded his head smiling.

"I'll go tell Arthur that you are getting a headache and so we are heading out. I should try and rescue Ron as well. Unfortunately Neville is stuck here until his Grandmother says otherwise." Xander told them. "Harry, why don't you and Sirius head over to Ron, while I head over to Arthur." Xander pointed out where he could see Ron, who was starting to look antsy.

Harry nodded and they were off.

On the way over to Mr. Weasley, Xander ran into Mr. Montgomery. "Earl." He held his hand out to shake.

"Xander. Good to see you. Having no fun I see." Earl said with a grin.

Earl Montgomery was a man small of stature but not of personality. He was five foot two and weighed one twenty soaking wet in his clothes. He had bright green eyes and blond hair which showed signs of turning grey.

Xander had no idea just how old he was, but in mundane terms he guessed Earl was around fifty or so.

Xander had hired him at the Woodard's request. Mr. Woodard had worked with the man in the field as an ambassador to Egypt, where Earl worked in "security".

With this in mind, Xander had him teach the kids more than just etiquette and social graces, but other things as well.

"You know me." Xander replied as he shook Earl's hand.

Earl laughed. "Heading out are you?"

"Definitely. Just headed over to Arthur to tell him we are out of here." Xander replied.

"Good. I watched you. You and Harry both did well. Talked to the people I told you to and ignored those I warned you about, all except the Centaur Relations guy." Earl said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, I learned my lesson. No chatting up the boring people." Xander hung his head shaking it. He lifted up his head with a smile on his face. "I really should head out before Harry lynches me." He said. They shook hands again, and Xander went over to Arthur.

"Excuse me Minister, Percy. Arthur we are heading out. Harry is getting a headache and Ron is about ready to climb the walls." The all laughed.

"Good. I could see you weren't comfortable, especially with Ted." The Minister smiled at Xander.

"Ted?" Asked Arthur.

"The Head of Centaur Relations," the Minister told them.

"Did everyone see that?" Xander whined, his fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Only those who know Ted," the Minister answered.

"Ah, you do know he needs to be replaced right? I mean if we are to have any relations with the Centaurs we need to reclassify them first as actual sentient beings." Xander looked over at Ted again while the Minister nodded.

"We are looking into it." The Minister told Xander.

"Good," Xander shook the man's hand. "Thank you for the invitation." he nodded before heading back to Harry and the others.

~ooOoo~

Once they were out of sight, Xander held out the rope. Everyone grabbed an area and they were off.

They landed in the library with Xander pulling off his tie. The others seeing this did the same.

"Merlin that was boring," exclaimed Ron. Harry and the others nodded.

"How about we get out of these outfits and have some cocoa and cookies." Xander looked at each of them.

"Race you!" Harry cried out as he ran up to his room.

~ooOoo~

As was usual, Xander was up at midnight on Solstice. He would stay up until the following midnight.

This was his thinking time, his reflection time.

He quietly took down his ax and began to check then sharpen the blade. After this he would polish it up and begin on his swords.

He thought back to his time in the woods, that awful, wonderful time.

He had regrown under the tutelage of Ambrosias Emrys. His knowledge of his magic grew as well. While he could not use a wand, he could, and did, use a staff. Not that he was going to go around advertising it. He rarely took the staff with him unless he was feeling threatened. He did, however, get the feeling that he would need it soon. By New Years probably, if not before.

After his apprenticeship was over, he had headed out to make his own path, a path that had led him here.

He never again felt the need to go to Lavondyss. Something he was grateful for. He didn't know if his sanity could handle a trip there again.

He knew that Harry had to have gone into Lavondyss. Harry's own nightmares proved that. But at the same time Xander knew that Harry was telling the truth. He really didn't remember much of the woods.

His conscious mind might not know but his unconscious mind did, hence the nightmares.

Xander and the others were doing all they could to help, but sooner or later Harry would remember, and they would be there to pick up the pieces.

Samhain seemed to help lay a few ghosts to rest. Xander had helped Harry harness a bit of his power to open a small portal and bring in his parents for a brief visit. When they forgave Sirius that seemed to help him as well.

After Harry's parents went back to their rest, Sirius and Remus spent the time telling him about his family, which added to the comfort he had received.

Xander smiled at the memory of Hermione going over everything she could think of so that she could understand that Thanksgiving was a time for family. A time to give thanks for the food you ate, your families health, your family being all together. Basically the good time everyone has getting together and enjoying being together.

It was not something he had growing up. His parents only thought of the four days they could stay drunk and stoned. When Xander had moved out, he had made spending the time with his made family a priority. Embracing everything he had been allowed to have, especially given their night work. You never knew just when your family would be taken from you so you held on with all your might to the time you had.

He missed his family, but he was building a new family. Not one to replace what he had lost, but one to hold onto just as hard.

He looked at his watch. It was time for his prayers and meditations. He had all the more reason to give thanks and pray that his loved ones, old and new, were all right.

~ooOoo~

After he had gotten everyone up, they all headed down for breakfast of waffles, eggs, and bacon.

Xander had made sure that Hedwig was there as well since this was a time for family and she was family.

Xander watched in amusement as Hedwig stole bacon from Harry's plate.

After the meal was over, Xander led them into the library where he had set up a live Christmas tree. He had gotten it from a nursery and planned to plant it after the holidays.

Xander had everyone sit down while he went to gather the other guests he had coming over.

Xander met up with Nod, who would be the Elf for the Grangers while they were there.

Xander had made sure that the Grangers were hooked up to the Floo after Samhain. This way they could get information about and for their daughter. Every time Xander got a letter from Harry he would Floo them and read all but the personal things to them so that they could get an idea what Hermione was doing. Her own letters, according to them, were snatches of historical accounts and not much on what is actually going on in her life.

It didn't take long for Hermione and her parents to arrive. It seemed that she got her punctuality from her parents.

First through was Noël, Hermione's mother. Daniel, Hermione's father, came next. He had fly away hair that would put Harry's old hair to shame. His hair was a dark brown color to match his eyes, while her mother's was a blond with blue eyes. Hermione had gotten the best of both parents. Her hair was a light brown, and while normally bushy, she had taken the time to tame it down. Her eyes were brown though a lighter shade than her father's black/brown eyes.

Xander escorted the family to the library, while pointing out several things to them. Hermione added in her own stories of things she had seen as well.

While he had been gone, the Weasley's had shown up via portkey and were waiting on them.

Xander spread his arms out to encompass all of them. "Merry Christmas!" He exclaimed. Everyone laughed and wished him a Happy Christmas as well.

"Now onto pressies," Xander was bouncing on his toes at this. He virtually skipped to the tree.

~ooOoo~

Xander sat near the fire with Harry and the others. They were each wearing the sweaters, or jumpers as the Brits called them, that Mrs. Weasley had made and were drinking hot chocolate. Xander's was blue with a gold X in the middle. He had joked that now he could really call himself an X-Man.

It had taken an hour and a showing of the comics to explain just what he had meant.

Harry was snuggled into his new bomber jacket, a new earring in his ear. Sirius and Remus were in matching jackets.

They were discussing the castle and what needed to be done with it. They hadn't had a chance to talk about it since the whole woods fiasco.

When Xander had come out of the woods he had been shocked to find that only a day had passed since he had gone in.

He understood the woods a bit now.

It had been set up a long time ago as a way to train the heir for the protection rites he or she would need to fulfill their duties.

The spells going back to before the founder of their line.

He knew that Ambrosias was a key to the training. In the real world he had been one of the ones to set up the spells on the woods.

Xander had an idea that Harry spent some time with him as well. His control over his own power was proof of that. While it had taken time to learn how to focus his wand abilities, he was no longer leaking power into the area around him. And his aura was suppressed so that no one could outwardly tell he was so powerful.

His ability to quickly learn to use his new wand was also a telling point.

"Xander?" Harry tugged on his sweater.

"Hmmm? Oh sorry, was thinking." He replied.

"We were talking about the castle." Sirius told him.

"Ah. From the reports from the Goblins, it will take at least five years to fix even with magic. They are trying to decide if it wouldn't be better to tear the thing down and start over using the surviving stones." Xander told them. "Either way, Harry is going to be needed. He needs to lay the new wards and power up the hearth stone to hold the new wards." Xander told them as he got up to get the proposal.

He brought it back to the others, showing each one to them so that they, or specifically Harry, the choices they had.

It was finally decided to tear the thing down and start over, that way they didn't have to worry about any of the areas coming down on them because of a sudden weakness.

Xander wrote a note to himself to call the Goblins in the morning and make an appointment so that they could talk over some of the ideas the group had come up with and to go over plans for the rebuild.

~ooOoo~

The day after Christmas was bright and cheery; each member of the family had come down in a happy mood, until they read the paper.

Dumbledore was found dead at what was left of the concentration camp Auswitz.

The Aurors who had found him discovered that the ghosts of Auswitz were gone and that the power stamp on the place had shown the makings of new Dementors.

Play time was over.

End Chapter Thirteen


	14. Chapter 14

Family

By danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

NOTE: I use Auschwitz - Birkenau here because I needed something with a very dark past.

I couldn't use Sunnydale because the person or persons involved would not like to be competing with the beings there and they also did not want to take the chance of someone more powerful eating them

Auschwitz was the only place that I could think of that would have that kind of darkness built into it from the past and so I apologize to anyone who would take offence to my using it.

~ooOoo~

**Albus Dumbledore (1881-1993)**

** It is this journalist's job to report the death of an era. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was found dead of an apparent heart attack last evening. **

** Much is unknown about the circumstances surrounding his death. We do know that a person or persons unknown used a previously unseen ritual to call forth rogue Dementors. It is assumed that our beloved Headmaster gave his life to protect us all from this unknown threat. Unfortunately an unknown number of Dementors were released. Officials in Poland have released this statement. '**_**We will work tirelessly until this situation is resolved and we have every last Dementor back where it belongs**_**.' **

** Albus was Head Boy, Prefect, Winner of the Barnabus Finkley Prize for Exceptional Spell-Casting, British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot, Gold Medal-Winner for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo, and the man who defeated Grindelwald thus ending World War Two (See page 2).**

** His work with Nicolas Flamel (See page 32) in the uses of Dragon Blood are well known (See page 4)**

** By c.1938 he was Hogwarts Transfiguration professor (See page 5) and Hogwarts School Headmaster c.1955 (See page 10) until his death.**

** Dumbledore is survived by his brother Aberforth **

** For more information on our dear beloved Headmaster and leader see pages 2 - 35**

~ooOoo~

Xander read the paper in shock. All he could think about was '_What about Harry_?'

He summoned Tuck and wrote out a quick message for him to take to the Weasleys, then ones to everyone else. He wanted to write one to Amelia Bones, but figured that she would be swamped right now.

A half hour later and everyone was there. It was time to discuss what they were going to be doing during this crisis.

~ooOoo~

Xander made sure that Harry and the other kids (including Neville, much to his grandmothers disagreement) were at the meeting as well, arguing that they were just as affected. They would need to get the pulse of the student body and how this was going to affect their education, with the meeting being held at the Leaky Cauldron.

After getting everyone comfortable, Xander opened the meeting. "I know everyone knows why we are here, so let's get started."

"First," he continued, "we need someone at Auschwitz to check over the scene. I don't think the Minister would try to pull an _'Eyes Only' _trick considering our political power, but I still want to be there to get my own look at the scene." He shrugged.

"The problem now becomes what do we do now that Dumbledore is dead? Someone has to take his place at the school. That should be our main priority right now, besides trying to figure out how he died and who is responsible. The Wizengamot will have more time to figure out who will take his place there later so that's not a rush. But the real question everyone is going to be asking is '_What do we do now_?' They are going to be looking at us hoping that we will have the answers, so we need to be able to at least have some of them soon." He finished.

Mrs. Longbottom spoke next. "I think we all should go to this Auschwitz place to see what is going on, not just you young man." Xander nodded his head at her. "However you are correct, we need to find a replacement for the Headmaster first. It has always been assumed that Minerva would take his place when he retired. So it will be assumed that she will take his place now. If so, then the question arises, who will take her place.' She finished.

"Should we invite her over to discuss this?" Xander asked her.

Thinking for a moment, Mrs. Longbottom nodded her head.

Xander summoned Tuck, and, after writing out a note for her, had him deliver the message to Mrs. McGonagall.

"Should we also get the rest of the Board of Governors as well?" Xander asked the rest of the room.

"If we are going to be deciding this now, we will need them. So yes I believe we should." Arthur answered.

Soon messages went out to the other members of the Board of Governors.

~ooOoo~

Soon everyone was there and seated, Xander called the meeting to order.

"We all know why we are here. The question now is what do we do?" Xander started. "Right now the Wizengamot will be in a panic, but with the right handling we should be able to get it under control. But that is for later. School will be starting soon and we need to make sure things run as smoothly as possible. This will help calm the students, which in turn may help to calm the parents. So the first order of business is to decide who will replace him as headmaster. Now I am told that you, Professor McGonagall, are the next in line. Are you ready to take the position or should we find someone else?" Xander finished looking at McGonagall.

She thought for a moment and then nodded her head. "For the rest of the year, yes, I will take it on. However, if I find I cannot do the job as well as needed I will step down and allow the Board to find someone else."

Everyone nodded at that and shoulders started to relax.

Xander looked at the kids. "Do you think the students would follow her as the school's Headmistress?"

They all nodded with Hermione telling them; "I think that the students will like knowing that someone is in charge and that everything is ok as far as school goes anyway. If you can get the government up and going soon that would help as well. It will probably get the people to relax too." She sat down again.

The other kids made agreeing noises with several of the adults agreeing as well.

"Good. Now the next item of business is who do we get to replace you in Transfiguration?" Xander asked McGonagall.

"James Paterson is one of the best in the field." She said after a moment's pause. "I know he has been working on a project for some time. However most of his funds are gone and he is looking to get more. I know he is hoping to get a grant or something, but if we approach him he may be amiable to coming to work at the school for at least the rest of this year. That will give us time to recruit someone else if necessary."

"Who do you think should approach him with the offer? I don't know the man so I'm out. Anyone?" Xander asked.

"I think that as the new Headmistress and the one who knows him, Minerva should approach him." Mrs. Longbottom told the room.

Most agreed with her, while McGonagall's lips were pursed before finally nodding her head.

"Next item," Xander continued now that that was out of the way. "Do we wait and give the kids some time with their families and to get the new teacher in place or should we get the kids back to a normal schedule and put them in study hall for now?"

This one was a hard one since both had pros and cons.

~ooOoo~

It was decided to wait a week. This would allow the new headmistress to get a hold of Mr. Paterson and see if he would teach for the rest of the year. If he declined then it was decided that they would approach the Minister about it.

Soon everyone departed to take care of business elsewhere and to let the public know of their decisions. Letters to the various families went out that same day

End Chapter Fourteen


	15. Chapter 15

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

NOTE: I use Auschwitz - Birkenau here because I needed something with a very dark past.

I couldn't use Sunnydale because the person or persons involved would not like to be competing with the beings there and they also did not want to take the chance of someone more powerful eating them

Auschwitz was the only place that I could think of that would have that kind of darkness built into it from the past and so I apologize to anyone who would take offence to my using it.

~ooOoo~

The adults had decided that they would wait until the children were back in school before heading to Poland and from there Auschwitz - Birkenau.

.

The scene before them was as though from a nightmare.

They could feel the death and destruction of lives all around them, and if it hadn't been for Xander and his staff, many of them would have been overwhelmed by it all.

On the way over, Xander had told them about the dark history of the place including that this was where Grindelwald had placed those who fought against him, and had told them that it was bad enough without the whole Dumbledore thing adding this to the mix.

Xander was dressed in a wool tunic and pants with a woolen cloak fastened with a cloak pin bearing the family crest.

He had his staff in hand and both glowed from the power he needed to keep everyone, especially himself, from falling from the shear evil power they could feel.

Even the Hellmouth at its worse never felt this way

They could tell exactly where Dumbledore had fallen and the Rogue Dementors had been just by the feel of the area and it wasn't long before everyone had had enough and had to leave.

Xander had them taken back to the hotel they had come from and from there, he made sure everyone was packed up and ported them (using his staff) to the ministry where he had the elves bring out several alcoholic drinks to give everyone when they were through with the bathrooms.

~ooOoo~

Once everyone was settled, Xander started the meeting off. "I took a tour of Azkaban after Sirius was found innocent and the feeling I got from the death camp was different. Oh there was the taint of Dementors all right; a strong taint. But it was stronger than Azkaban where they have been dwelling for quite some time. This leads me to conclude that the Dementors in Poland were much stronger than here in the UK, which is a disturbing thought."

Everyone nodded over this. Many were still pale from the effects of the place, with everyone keeping an eye on Mrs. Longbottom and Madam Marchbanks to make sure they were going to be ok.

"I can tell you now that the feeling I got from the place was that Dumbledore didn't just have a heart attack and died there, I got the feeling he was killed there. I could sense the feelings of the battle which overrode the sick feeling of everything else. Whatever he was fighting was big and strong."

One brave soul raised his hand to get everyone's attention; "Do you think he was fighting the Dementors?"

Xander shrugged. "It's possible and very probable even, but I think there is a darker thing that happened there. I can almost see it, but the magic is just to evil for me to get past the stench."

Everyone nodded vigorously over that. They knew that if it hadn't been for Xander and his staff they would not have been able to get within kilometers of the place, let as well actually inside it.

"So what do we tell the public?" Someone else asked the group.

"We tell them the truth, or at least part of it. We tell them that Dumbledore fell battling the rogues, dying so that others would be safe. We have no idea about the rogues and will be working hand in hand with our counterparts in Poland to find out just what went on there, and that is ALL we tell them, which, after all, is the truth." The Minister replied.

Everyone nodded happy that someone was taking control of things.

Xander led everyone to a dining room where the large table had been pulled out and had everyone seated, and then told them; "We need to have food so that we don't get drunk on the alcohol we've been drinking, we need to be clearheaded if we are going to work this out."

Everyone watched as the elves brought out a simple meal that would not further upset their stomachs and quietly ate as they thought about what they had learned.

After the meal was finished, Mrs. Longbottom started off the new conversation; "we need people to meet with the people from Poland so that we can all be informed of what is going on." She told everyone.

The Minister stood up and nominated Xander; "since he could handle the place and seemed to know more than anyone else they had talked to." He told them.

Everyone was in agreement there and whether or not Xander was ready for it he knew he would be the one leading the investigation now.

"And the Head of the Wizengamot?" Arthur asked.

"Xander is right, we can wait until things cool down before nominating for the post, this will give everyone a chance to catch their breath and not make a decision that we would later regret," said the Minister. "However, those who want the post should make their cases over the next few weeks so that we can all see who would be the best person for the job." he finished.

Everyone agreed with that with comments of "here, here," to be heard around the room.

"As stated in the law, until we find someone, I will be taking over as the Head, and will swear now, that once someone is elected, I will step down." The Minister added.

There were murmurs about that with everyone remembering Fudge, however, with his oath to turn things over to the head when they were chosen helped and everyone ratified it.

~ooOoo~

The next morning, the Minister held a press conference to let the press and everyone else know what had been decided.

Xander was with him and everyone was surprised to see him glowing with power and holding a staff.

Everyone had thought that since he was never seen with a wand he didn't either have one, or he wasn't any good with magic.

They found out that the first was the right answer.

Everyone took solace over the fact that the government had things well in hand and it didn't take long for the sheeple to calm down and let the government take control again.

Xander wondered again if he had ever been like them, and like the last time he had thought about it, decided that yes he had, otherwise he would have figured out about the mayor before they had graduation.

End Chapter Fifteen


	16. Chapter 16

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

**Xander**

** Things were chaotic at first when we got back to school, but have calmed down that they know the McGonagall is in charge.**

**The new Transfiguration teacher is good, not as good as McGonagall, but still good.**

** We've been going over the new Ministry and what is happening there with Mr. Montgomery and we've been surprised at how smooth things are going.**

** The new Minister is really taken hold of things and that you and the others in the alliance have helped loads.**

** I see that you are using this chaos to further the family goals as well which I'm not sure whether I should be happy your willing to do this at this time or not. Mr. Montgomery told us that now is when everyone will be lining up to further their own powerbase which I think is a little cold myself, but I'm here and your there, so I'll let you take control and do what you think is best for the family.**

** I do agree that now is the time to get the non-human bills passed though, and the ones in the offices who oppose it taken out. Mr. Montgomery told us that after the Goblins and others find out that we are serious about it they will give us more than a token job and help.**

** He also told us that with the new menace that brought about the Dementors we will need all the help we can get.**

** Hagrid has been going out to see the Centaurs, to get them on board as well, and that he has taken the new head of Centaur relations out with him so that they can tell her what they want.**

** Susan is hyped that her aunt is now the head of the Wizengamot and we are happy that the minister kept his word and removed himself as head after she was elected.**

** Now all you have to do is name someone to represent us in the ICW.**

** Mr. Montgomery told us that they have picked a new head from Switzerland and that they are keeping watch on the whole thing to make sure that the rogues are taken out.**

** In your last letter, you told me that you are trying to force through a bill that would make it so we take out our own Dementors and place regular guards there instead. That it would be safer than the threat that they would team up with their new brothers and I agree that we need to do that. Last thing we need is for our own Dementors going rogue and teaming up with the new ones, I don't think that anyone would be safe; and not just here in the UK**

** Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Woodard have been going over the war with Grindelwald so that we can see where our own Dementors came from.**

** I'm surprised that someone like Dumbledore didn't stop them from bringing Grindelwald's own guards here to the UK to take over the prison. **

**Thankfully most of them had been destroyed before hand by the other countries or we would****definitely****be in trouble.**

** On a more positive note, we won our Quidditch game against Hufflepuff and the team is real happy with the new brooms because of it.**

** I barely squeaked by getting the snitch from Cedric and I think that the faster broom was all that kept him from winning.**

** It turns out that we are not the only ones using the new workout room and pool area, a lot of the other houses are using them as well with the team captains feeling that they can get some work done with their teams to keep them in shape despite the weather.**

** Oliver was the first to do this, but the others have followed behind him not wanting to have our team get the Cup.**

** However with Slytherin out of the way we only have to go against Ravenclaw now.**

** Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have their game in March then ours with Ravenclaw in May to find out who gets the cup.**

** With our new brooms and the work Oliver is giving us I can't help but believe we won't get it this year even if I am hurt before the game. **

** I have been working with Ginny to make sure she can take over in case that happens and she is doing well.**

** She has the small body for it and has been practicing without her family's knowledge for a few years now, so we should be good there.**

** You told me that your read the non personal stuff to the Granger's so I'll tell you that Hermione has been working hard as usual. We had a debate over the whole Dementor thing and this time we had For the Dementors being taken out and the girls had the Against.**

** Even though she agreed with us, we still barely won against her arguments. **

** I've added a copy of the debate for you so you can see what we did and so that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and the Grangers can see as well.**

** I think that Hermione is going to do a good job working in the government like she wants to.**

** She is working hard in the class so that she can work for Mr. Weasley for a bit before trying to sit on the Wizengamot board herself; having taken over for Mr. Weasley when he retires.**

** The new laws allowing Muggleborns to get higher positions in the government if they are qualified really went over well with the students as well.**

** Ron works with Mr. Woodard a lot over the battles in history and such and is doing great in classes with Hermione's help.**

** Thanks to the long talk he had with you and his dad, he is doing his own work now instead of tricking Hermione into doing it for him and is getting a lot of good comments from the teachers because of it.**

** Neville is also doing a lot better than in the past. It seems the wand he was using was seriously backing him up since he had to fight it and now he not only is doing well in the practicles but with his studying with us, has excelled in the written as well.**

**Our family alliances are showing up even here with Hermione, Ron, Neville, and I, in the top five with Hermione at the top and Susan in second.**

** Ron has a serious case of "like" for Susan and it's getting funny to watch him stammer around her.**

** The Ravenclaws are working hard to drive Hermione and Susan out of the top spots as well as taking us out so we have to work all that much harder to keep the spots.**

** The Ravenclaws aren't taking the fact the they don't have someone in the top five very well and are being pains about it. If I didn't know better, I would think that they were the old Slytherins with the way they are acting.**

** However, unlike Dumbledore, McGonagall won't put up with the bullying that he did and they keep losing points when they are caught so now they are doing it behind the teachers back.**

** So far we are in the lead with points for the House Cup and Ravenclaw is demanding that they also get the extra classes with Mr. Montgomery so that they can get extra points. We have all tried to point out that he doesn't give out points only detentions but they won't listen, so he is going to talk to you about opening the classes up for other students.**

**That's all for now;**

**Love Harry**

~ooOoo~

**Harry;**

** I have been busy with the investigation into the Dementors and what happened to Dumbledore and have had to go out to the camp again to check things out with the Polish Unspeakables and the representatives from the ICW.**

** I can tell you that we feel that Dumbledore was fighting against the person or persons who used the power of the place to raise the Dementors, just as Grindelwald did during the war.**

** I get the feeling that a sacrifice was made to bring in the fresh blood that were needed for this to happen but feel that they used the strong emotions that had already been here for some of that. **

**The new Dementors have moved onto the camps in Bosnia and that area. So the ICW has been working hard on getting them captured and killed off before things get out of hand.**

** We have been able to pass the bill to kill off our own Dementors and will be doing so by the time you get this letter.**

** We have been talking about what to do with the prison. Since the Death Eaters were declared to be terrorists and executed for their crimes, there really aren't very many people there anymore.**

** Most of the surviving prisoners have been placed in a secure ward in St. Mungos, so that pretty much empties the place.**

** I'm all for tearing the place down and sinking the whole island, but cooler heads have prevailed and let me know that that would contaminate the local water to the point that it would kill off all life in the water area and then contaminate the local land areas as well moving into the areas that surround that, so no sinking of the place.**

** It looks more likely that we will ward the sucker off and then keep watch over it to make sure that no one tries to use it like they did Auschwitz; with the ICW doing most of the work and later guarding.**

** The ICW has also decided that they need to guard the other concentration camps as well to make sure this doesn't happen again.**

** I'm glad you are doing well in classes and hope you keep up the good work. **

** I have gotten a letter from Mr. Montgomery and have talked to McGonagall about what you told me and we have decided to open the classes up to the rest of the school and have talked to Earl into giving and taking points now, so we will see what happens.**

** I heard your game on the WWN since they were broadcasting it and feel that you really did a great job. I'm hoping to get to your next game in May and am planning on having you come for the Spring Equinox since we have to have you lay the beginning wards on the castle. It will be a four day weekend for you, but this time it will only be you that will be coming since we are laying down the wards.**

** After the wards are done I plan on us heading off to London to catch a few plays and movies and such so plan on having fun.**

**I will talk to you later;**

** Xander**

~ooOoo~

Xander put down the letter he had just written Harry, and sealed it for Dobby to take later.

The Dementors were gone, at least the ones here in the UK and the ICW was working hard on rounding up the new ones. Problem was the whole Bosnia thing was a bog that even the UN was having problems with and the representatives from the ICW were getting killed just as much as the UN troops

Here in the UK, Madam Bones and the Minister were working on increasing the Auror force as well as the Unspeakables now that the rot was taken out.

Unfortunately, they were having a hard time of it because; between Dumbledore dumbing down the curriculum and Fudge's own actions, it was hard finding qualified people to take over the open spots.

They had brought in the older retired Aurors and that was helping but they still needed to get new troops in.

To get what troops they could in now, they had to expand the teaching years for the Aurors to three years instead of the two they were used to and that was helping but not enough, so it looked like they were going to be really pushing for the DADA this year and in the years coming. No more going with idiots like Lockhart or Quirrell.

The Minister had even stated that he would bring in one of the retired Aurors or even an active duty Auror to teach if he had too, they NEEDED qualified people if they were going to have a hope of fighting off the new bad guy if he or she came here.

To help they had managed to pass bills that brought in cameras to watch the areas like Diagon and Knockturn much like the mundane authorities had done in London.

Once the Aurors were up and running they would have full troops to spare for attacks, but until then they were setting up Auror stations in Diagon so that there could be someone in place to monitor it much like police stations in the Mundane world.

With the information they had gathered from the Death Eaters, Knockturn had been raided and many of the areas they had done business in such as Borgan and Burkes were taken out.

The other stores and such there were allowed to stay and were flourishing since they didn't have to put up with the darker element anymore.

Aurors were being placed in the larger police stations to help there and they already had people in Scotland Yard so that was a help as well.

The Mundane Minister had been briefed on what was going on and there was talk of placing a guard with him if the danger showed up on their shores.

Xander had brought up the point that they should be ready to bring out a type of Army force if the Dementors and their maker(s) came to them and they were drawing up the lesson plans that they would need.

Xander was bringing his soldier memories to the fore for this one and there was talk of sending some people to the mundane military to learn from them so that they could be prepared on that front as well.

The news about Ravenclaw was a bit disturbing and would have to be watched. He put a note down to talk to Flitwick and McGonagall about it.

Xander looked at the clock and realized that it was late and that if he wanted to be ready for the upcoming session of the Board of Governors he had better get to bed.

End Chapter Sixteen.


	17. Chapter 17

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Xander returned from his mission to London, he had gone to check out his sources among the peaceful demon community and was disturbed by what he had found out.

Sirius and Remus were there waiting for him and noticed the look on his face; "I take it, it didn't go well?" asked Sirius.

Xander shook his head; "It went well, I just don't like what I learned. He, and it is definitely a male, is bringing in more demons to his cause, and the ones I'm familiar with scare me. If I had the ability, I would bring Willow, Buffy, Giles, and the Fang Gang here to help fight this thing."

At Sirius' questioning look, Xander began his tale.

"I have been making inroads into the peaceful demon community since I got here, so I went to the pub I usually go to and was shocked when one of the Moray Clan came up to me to talk. They are quiet people and rarely talk to outsiders so I knew that what he/she had to say was important and went to sit with them.

The man who is behind this was a Hitler Youth when he was younger and was in the employ of Grindelwald. From what I can make out, he was Grindelwald's apprentice and when Grindelwald was taken out by Dumbledore, the boy disappeared, with no one knowing where he went."

"He showed up about five years ago as a teacher in the Dark Arts at Durmstrang and was there until last year when he left on Sabbatical, saying he wanted to visit his old hunting grounds. Next thing anyone knows, he is doing summonings to bring some of his Master's "Pets" back into the world." Xander took a drink of his Firewhiskey and looked at the fire in the fireplace.

Taking a deep breath he continued; "He has brought in not only Dementor's, but also other fear demons and worse."

He took another drink. "There are some that have only mentions in the Watcher books such as Ferders, Camlots and Frecoms. Ferders are much like Dementors in that they bring about fear, but where Dementors feast on your bad memories, these guys feed on your fears so they do everything in their power to bring about your fears; the worse the better."

"Wait a minute;" interrupted Sirius, "Dementors feed on your good memories, not on your bad ones. I should know."

Xander shook his head. "If that is the case then why does a Patronus work on them? If they truly worked on good memories, then a Patronus would be a feast to them. No, from what I have found out they feast on your bad ones thereby making sure that you can only remember those."

Sirius sat back in his chair to think about it for now, while Xander emptied his drink and took a bottle of Butterbeer from Tuck.

"Camlots and Frecoms feed on fear as well, only they also feed on the bodies while doing this. They are difficult to get rid of because unlike others, they have to be banished back to the Hell Dimension they come from. They cannot be killed. This is why I would like the old gang to be here. We've battled a few in the past and Giles, as well as Wesley, know the banishment rituals that would get rid of them."

Remus leaned forward; "This ties in with what I have been hearing among the Packs. They say a new old enemy is about the lands again. From what I have garnered, he has been making friends with the Vampire and Werewolf packs throughout the rest of Europe and the old Warsaw Pact. He is actively helping Milosevic in his ethnic cleansing right now by allowing his "Servants" to feast on prisoners or go through townships. That is why the UN and the ICW are having such a hard time right now."

Sirius looked thoughtful over this and Xander kept his eyes on the fire in the fireplace, before hauling himself up and Floo calling the Minister's office to make an appointment for the morning with the Minister and the others for a briefing.

~ooOoo~

Xander lay in bed thinking about the past and the future. If Kruft got his way, then there would be a new dictator out there conquering Europe and the rest of the world. They needed to stop him and his servants.

From what he had gathered, the man was well on his way to immortality much like the Mayor had done. He already had fifty years under his belt, and can go as fast or as slow as his servants wanted. With the way the war in Bosnia was going he could keep that up for quite some time.

The Minister had set up a meeting with the head of the ICW over the information he had and he knew that the Watchers would be called upon like they had been in WWII to help stop this.

He knew that there would be a call to bring in the Watchers since it was their work that had helped Dumbledore get into position to take out Grindelwald and he wasn't sure how he should take that since he would have to be very careful with Travers; the Second in Command of the Watchers right now.

He was at the forefront of the information gathering right now and that meant that he would be meeting up with Travers, how this would end he had no idea since it would only be a few years from now that Travers would have otherwise found out about him.

He had been very careful about changing things and had pretty much stuck with the Wizarding World or dealing only with local demons instead of things going on in the larger world, otherwise he would be rescuing his younger self as well as Willow and definitely Jesse, and he had already figured out the consequences of that, so he stayed his hand and kept to the UK.

Xander sighed and rolled over to get some sleep before the meetings tomorrow.

~ooOoo~

Harry dreamed of hunting, not as a human, but as a wolf, his prey ahead injured and waiting for the end.

He came to the Stag and leapt at it with his pack mates.

The stag was injured, but not without its power and reacted to the attack with an attack of his own, injuring more than one of his pack mates until he was finally able to be killed by Harry.

Harry leapt at him and used his weight and jaws to subdue the stag….Harry woke up sweating and with the taste of blood in his mouth.

End Chapter Seventeen


	18. Chapter 18

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my new Beta DennSedi for the help with my story

~ooOoo~

_Xander watched as his sister fell from the scaffolding before he could get up there, and cried out in pain._

_ The monks had made her from him, she was of his blood and even if she hadn't been, he would have loved her._

_ His memories of her showed how he had protected her in the past, both from their parents and from the demons and now he watched as she lay there where she had fallen._

_ He hadn't been good enough to save her this time and he yelled out his pain, attacking the demons around him to get even._

_ Anya had already fallen to a back stabber and now Dawn._

_ His focus became narrow as he reached out and snapped the neck of another demon trying to get to him and soon there were no more around him so he sought out more, only stopping when Spike knocked him out with a dart._

Xander awoke with a start. It had been awhile since he had that particular dream and he knew he wouldn't get anymore sleep.

He was surprised that the dream wasn't about Graduation since they were seeing so much of the newest demon wannabe and figured that his subconscious was working on trying to find a way to stop him.

He got up and went in to take a shower before heading down to do his exercises and swimming. Maybe a little workout with the bag would be in order to get some of the anger in his system out.

~ooOoo~

Xander was alone for breakfast since he had gotten up so early and was waiting for the paper to be delivered when Tuck showed up with both the paper and a letter from Harry.

**Dear Xander;**

** I have been having the weird dreams again; this time about being a wolf and hunting down a stag. I even woke up with blood in my mouth this time.**

**Fortunately I had bitten my tongue while I was asleep so that was one worry gone.**

** I think you are right in that I am dreaming about my time in Lavondyss and am worried that this dream was real and that I did turn into a wolf or something.**

** At least that is my hope anyway. I can handle using teeth and claws when hunting a deer, but to do so as a human and doing that? **

**I think I at least have a small idea now of what you went through and it scares me.**

** Could I be that…that…Primal?**

** You know of my other dreams where I am grown up and fighting with a sword; that one I can handle better because at least I am not tearing things with tooth and claw, even if it is just as bloody.**

** Mr. Montgomery has been teaching us swordsmanship and I am picking that up fast. He thinks that basically I am just going over things that I already know and am just training my body to do so again.**

** The Ravenclaws are acting up again, thankfully it is just our year that has been doing it and the older years in Ravenclaw are getting ticked(as you say) at our year for this since they keep getting caught doing things like trying to sabotage our work in class.**

** Flitwick is getting real tired of them I can tell you and they have had to do detention after detention just from him alone.**

** Mr. Montgomery has also given detentions and is seeking to drop them from his classes.**

** McGonagall is seriously thinking about it from what we have heard which is good because I am getting sick and tired of Politics and Law with them in the class.**

** He wanted us to do another debate but has had to delay that because the Ravenclaws don't want to cooperate with us for it, and want it to be Ravenclaw against us. This would be ten against five.**

** I know that Susan has complained to her aunt about it and there for awhile things had calmed down, but it didn't take long for things to heat up again, only this time they are trying to keep Susan out of it to keep her aunt out of it.**

** Lisa Turpin is a friend of Susan's and is trying to stay out of it as much as she can now that Susan has had a talk with her. She is trying to help from within, but it isn't working to well.**

** Terry Boot is all for the whole thing and is one of the major instigators along with Cornfoot. The two of them push everyone else's buttons until they react then sit back and watch the show.**

** Susan had to have a long talk with Ron about his temper because of this. **

** It was bad around Malfoy, but it is getting worse with those two in the lead. And if it wasn't for Susan and Hermione, Ron and Ginny would have seriously blown up by now. As it is, things are coming to a head soon, I can feel it.**

** Hufflepuff's match against Ravenclaw is coming soon and we are rooting for Hufflepuff this time around because of all of the problems.**

** Hope to see you there;**

** Harry**

End Chapter Eighteen


	19. Chapter 19

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my new Beta DennSedi for the help with my story

~ooOoo~

The meeting with Travers went about as smoothly as Xander expected, meaning rough roads ahead.

Travers and his boss kept going on and on about how the Magical World was at fault for this just like WWII and that they would have to go in to clean up their mess.

Needless to say, it didn't go well with everyone else in the room.

They wouldn't even acknowledge Xander's POV about Kruft trying for ascension, claiming that he had no idea what he was talking about. And Xander had no way to prove it without letting it out that he was from the future.

Xander threw his tie away, where Tuck banished it to be hung back up, and headed off to get a drink.

Sirius had already beaten him to the Firewhiskey and he wanted his one glass before heading off to the gym to work out his frustrations

About the only good thing they had gotten from the whole mess was that due to the intervention of the new Ministry, the Werewolves were staying out of it.

Or at least the UK were's were.

They liked the fact that they could get jobs now and had access to Wolfsbane potions when needed.

Animals such as Fenrir Greyback had already headed off to answer to their new Master though and that was going to be rough.

The Vampires were keeping neutral this go around. They had been used as cannon fodder in the last war and had no doubt that it would be the same now.

With the Ministry allowing them to open Blood Bars in Knockturn, they were planning on staying right where they were. And as long as they kept to the new treaty about not killing or harming humans and other sentient beings, they could happily get their donated blood.

Kosovo was another matter entirely though. The weres and the vampires were running rampant and the Watchers were going to be bringing in hunting teams and a Slayer to deal with it.

Xander himself was planning on heading out to hunt as well, only he would be doing it with Sirius and having Remus stay behind as the ambassador to the packs in the UK.

It was March now and if they did it according to plan they would be back in time for the Equinox and Harry.

~ooOoo~

**Harry;**

** I heard that things have now calmed down with the suspension of the two trouble makers: Boot and Cornfoot, and that Earl has discontinued the open classes as well.**

** Good, that means you are not distracted in his classes at least.**

** I am also happy to see that Hufflepuff beat Ravenclaw soundly. Thankfully Diggory is as good as you made him out to be and between that and the fact that their Keeper bottomed out, kept it at a good score to boot.**

** As far as I know, we are still on for the Spring Equinox and I will be picking you up.**

** Sirius and I have to go out of town for a bit and I will try my hardest to be there for you.**

** If I can't be there, then at least Remus will be there to help you with the wards.**

** I have talked to Mrs. Woodard and she told me that she had been helping you work on your meditation and I feel that it will help you and your nightmares a lot so keep it up as much as you can.**

** I have talked to Sirius and Earl about them as well and Sirius thinks that you may try not only meditation but to become the wolf. He thinks that you could be an Animagus which would be cool.**

** I think I know the type of wolf and if I am right, you will be happy to know that their job is to keep the balance so that should help you as well.**

** I have sent along the books that you wanted for your library and am glad that you are using the library we put together for you.**

** Got to go;**

** Xander**

~ooOoo~

Xander and Sirius were teamed up with hunters from the US who were helping the ICW and the UN try to keep things from getting worse.

They had already taken out some of the demons Kruft had brought about and were working with other demons to take out more.

Kruft hadn't taken into account that the demons already here wouldn't like the fact he was bringing in higher level demons since, if they won, the locals would be slaves, so Xander was getting their aid as well.

Most of the time Xander spent in Bosnia was as go-between with the humans on one side and the local demons on the other.

The Watchers scoffed about getting aid from demons and had called him a traitor to the human race for attempting to do so.

Xander didn't care though; he just wanted Kruft to fall and until then wanted to keep the deaths to a minimum.

The demons were already taking out the rouge Weres and the Vampires so that was helping there, and they were starting on the medium level demons soon to get their levels down.

They knew that Kruft knew about the take outs, but so far had done nothing but torture a few he had caught.

Xander was just happy to see that Kruft hadn't brought in more of the higher levels than he had.

He had heard through the grapevine that Kruft had only been able to bring in so many and that the rest would negotiate when he had control of a country, so now Xander was coming up with plans to take them out as well.

Right now, they were looking down on a camp; Xander could feel the pain and suffering from here, especially since the Dementors were hyping it.

The guards looked to be demons as well, though of a lower cast.

Xander was waiting on the Watchers to get into place to take out the guards while they took out the Dementors and the officers; afterwards the Watchers were to take out the Frecoms. So it was a matter of holding the line while they did so.

This was not the only base being hit today; they wanted to take out as many and as much as possible as fast as possible without having him plan for them ahead and waiting for them.

Xander noticed a shadow that was moving just as the word went out to attack so instead of taking out the guard he was supposed to he worked his way over to take out the shadow demon that was going to start hunting the hunters.

Sirius noticed Xander moving after something and followed, catching site of Xander fighting with…something, he wasn't sure what.

Others soon joined in with the first as though Xander were summoning them to attack him; next thing Sirius knew, there was a scream loud enough for the others to hear and then…nothing, the shadows were gone and Xander was injured.

Sirius carefully headed over to Xander and lifted him up to portkey out of there and to safety.

~ooOoo~

Xander was in pain, the shadow demons had taken a good chunk out of his side and it was all the healers could do to save him, It finally took a Mora Demon's blood willingly given to close the wounds he had and soon others from the various strike teams started to arrive and the Healers and the Mora were busy saving others.

~ooOoo~

When Xander woke up, he found himself to be in the infirmary in Germany and the raids over with.

He saw Sirius sitting next to his bed; (Croak), '_well that sounded good' _he thought to himself and tried again. "How did we do?" He managed to get out.

Sirius brought over a glass of water and slowly let him drink.

"We did well; Kruft was NOT prepared for us. He and Milosevic hadn't thought about us attacking their precious camps and were completely unprepared. We were able to take out the Frecoms and the Camlots altogether, but he is going to be able to bring in more Dementors, the area is ripe for it." Sirius told him.

"By the way, we all want to know what you were fighting, seems a few others in the various camps came across them as well and whatever they are took a big bite out of our forces. We lost about a quarter of our people just from them. When we described them to the Watchers, they all said that we were making it up and that it had to have been something else."

Sirius helped Xander sit up and a Healer came over to check on him before going back to her desk.

When the Guard noticed Xander was awake, he summoned his boss and soon others were in the room with them, all asking the same question; "What were they?"

"They are what I basically call the Shadow Demons; they are the great granddaddies of the imps. Unlike their descendants, Shadow Demons can and WILL hurt you. Their like a few of the others Kruft has brought in to serve him; Fear Demons that like to eat their prey as they feast on their fears. They are easy to kill if they are alone, but together, they have a pack identity and will overtake their prey.

I've run into them before and had a feeling that he would pull them in so I came prepared to take them out. I tried to tell the others, but they all listened to the Watchers and laughed that they would be there.

The Watchers know that there are few of them left and don't feel that they would endanger themselves by coming here."

The leader of the strike force looked at him and said; "From now on you tell ME what you think, I think I'd rather hear from you about something that might eat my people, then to watch it happen again and have those Watchers just laugh at me and my men over it."

The others nodded and patted him on the shoulder before they left.

Sirius brought over some soup for him to drink and then headed off to get some sleep now that Xander was awake.

End Chapter Nineteen


	20. Chapter 20

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my new Beta DennSedi for the help with my story

~ooOoo~

Harry entered the clearing around the Hearth Stone

The clearing was circular and in the center of the circle was a circle with several runes and other symbols inside of it. Harry recognized many of them from his ritual readings.

The center of the circle was alight with white light from the sun on the Hearth Stone.

Harry disrobed and then sat down in the center of the light on top of the Stone.

He began the chants he needed at the strike of noon.

Soon things began to happen; the torches all lit as one around the circle.

Each candle was made of something different, and each was placed in a stand located at strategic places around the circle.

As his chants continued, the lines of the circle began to light up, each line in a different color.

Soon the whole clearing was alight with color.

At that point, a light in the exact center surrounded Harry.

The light reached up and was met by light coming from the sun.

The lights began to build as the chanting continued.

Harry could literally feel the land reaching out to him, from one end to the other and even Darkwood Forest came at his command.

He could feel every ward past and present.

And it wasn't long until he could feel the ghosts as well; even those who haunted Lavondyss were summoned to take their part in the ceremony.

Soon the power was such that Harry was raised from the Stone.

Hanging in midair in the exact middle of the clearing, arms spread out as he continued to chant.

Lost in the essence that is Lavondyss.

Soon he disappeared and only light and colors could be seen in the clearing.

There was no Harry, there was no Lavondyss, there was only light.

~ooOoo~

Sirius and the rest of the adults were stationed outside the land's wards to protect Harry since he would be very vulnerable at this time and were shocked when everything lit up and the center were Harry was became as bright as the sun only to dim after a few minutes, then everything seemed to slow down and you could see the animals and sentient beings such as Centaurs and Unicorns as well as Ghostly Warriors coming from the woods that surrounded them, all bowing to the center and them disappearing back to where they had come from.

No one had ever heard or read such a thing happening when the wards were laid down and as one, they decided to keep it to themselves and only discuss it with those who had been there.

~ooOoo~

Soon Harry came out looking fresh and tanned. A halo effect surrounded him for a moment, and then disappeared as they watched him come forward.

He turned to Xander; "We are going to have to change the plans a bit, the land wants the Hearth Stone to be in a garden this time." he said calmly.

Xander nodded that he understood and then followed Harry to where the garden now stood.

It had flowers of all kinds blooming everywhere and trees surrounding the Hearth Stone.

You could feel the wards around the place grabbing hold of you and testing you to make sure you were allowed before releasing you.

They heard a cry from the woods and watched as Ambrosias Emrys walked towards them out of the woods.

Xander and Harry walked to him and bowed their heads to their Master and teacher before leading him back to the garden where he seated himself against one of the trees.

Master Emrys looked at Harry and then touched his forehead with a finger. "I see you took Ir'nhan's blessed cup of water my boy. Good, use the innocence that you have returned to yourself to better yourself against the enemy. I shall try to bring back the knowledge you have blocked away from yourself, and endeavor to do so in a way that will allow you to keep as much of your innocence as possible."

Harry bowed his head and then nodded while Xander just looked on.

Master Emrys looked over to Xander; "Ah Huntsman, it is good to see you again. I see you have found yourself finally."

Xander grinned and nodded.

"Good. Have you decided if you are to drop your father's name and take on you the title you have earned?"

Xander nodded again; "I have thought long and hard since returning from the woods and have decided to keep my surname so that I might bring pride back to the Harris line." Xander answered.

Master Emrys nodded his head and grinned; "Good, you truly have grown up. Now I do believe we have earned our selves some lunch." So saying he moved his arm and the staff at the end of his hand around, bringing food to them, while they ate in the warded garden.

~ooOoo~

Come nightfall, they found that Master Emrys was tied to the forest to well and could not leave the area, however he told them that he would be there when they called upon him and headed back to the woods and his hut.

~ooOoo~

Harry was bouncing around everywhere and could not rest. He was too full of the energy that was his Lands.

Finally Xander took him out to the center of the Potter Lands and sat him down.

"I want you to sink down into yourself for a bit and find the link you share with these lands as well." Xander told him.

It took over an hour for Harry to calm himself down enough to try and when he did you could tell since the area around him lit up.

"Good, now I want you to place all of that excess energy into the wards here. Not ALL of your energy, just the excess."

This took a moment, but you could feel the wards snap into place and then go back to where they were only stronger.

"Good, now wake up a bit and tell me what you see around you."

Harry opened his eyes and they seemed to glow for a moment before going back to their lively green color. "I see the wards around us;" He said in awe.

"Good are there any holes in them?" Asked Xander.

Harry thought for a moment; "Well not holes exactly, but weaknesses in them."

Xander watched him for a moment as he looked around. "I want you to smooth the wards out to cover those without weakening the others. Do you think you can do that?"

Harry nodded and moved his arm; much like Master Emrys had earlier and then falls back onto his back sound asleep and snoring.

End Chapter Twenty


	21. Chapter 21

Family  
By Danu40k

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my new Beta DennSedai for the help with my story

~ooOoo~

Harry was bouncing around Xander shouting, "We WON! WE WON! Over and over again, with the twins adding their own voices and dances to the mix.

Gryffindor had been so set up for the match that Ravenclaw never stood a chance. A fact that a few of them were grumbling about getting even. With most of those being in Harry's year. Seems like they still hadn't learned their lesson.

Xander had already set up the party in Gryffindor for the house and team that included an ice cream cake as well as a regular cake. Most of the purebloods had never had ice cream cake so it went over really well.

Harry spent the whole night bouncing from one end of the room to the other while Xander just sat back and grinned. Finally it was time for Xander to leave and he said goodbye to the group and hugged Harry, and grabbed Sirius on his way out. (He had been talking quietly to the twins so all was NOT well for someone when they pranked them, probably the Ravenclaw third years)

On their way out, Professor Flitwick came up to them with a favor; "I know better, but my house is grumbling over the fact that you won and are saying that it was because of the new brooms. Is it possible to get new brooms for the other houses as well? I know Professor Sprout would like to know as well, since it truly WAS the brooms that beat her house."

Xander thought for a moment and then nodded his head. "Your right, it is unfair of the other teams to have to play against a better equipped team, so yeah I can see my way to getting new team brooms this summer for the teams. They WILL be from the American company however, unless you can talk to an English maker and get the brooms for the cost it is going to cost me, or lower."

Flitwick nodded his head grinning and left them into McGonagall's hands as she led them out of the school and towards Hogsmead where they could port-key out.

~ooOoo~

Sirius;  
Thanks for the Slinkies and the other toys you brought with you. Peeves LOVES the new Super Soaker you got him and is whole heartedly agreeing to leave the Gryffindors alone and getting Filch and the third year Ravenclaws for us instead.

We found out from the House-Elves that Lady Hogwarts herself LOVES the Slinkies and is often seen playing with the left over ones that Filch takes away from us and having the elves bring them up to the top of the towers and then start them down the stairs where she constantly moves the staircases to keep them going all the way to the dungeons and then the house elves bring them back up to start all over again.  
It is fun watching Filch try to stop it and getting no where.

We also want to thank you for the Star Wars Lego Sets you gave us to play with and tell Xander that we enjoy the D&D gaming books he gave us for Christmas and the additional books he gave us the last time you were here.

We have been gaming Xander's way and using HIS Monster and Demon Manuals to tech DADA and stuff to the younger years. Harry and Ron make fantastic Paladins for the games. You said something about learning computers this summer so we have to ask…What is a computer?

Thanks again for the toys  
Fred and George

~ooOoo~

Fred and George:  
A computer is a machine sort of of like a greater version of the typewriters you have now only MUCH, MUCH better. You can type on it and it will remember what you typed so you can reprint it with the printer that is hooked up to it and you can play games on it as well.

Since you liked the stuff we gave you, here are some more toys for you to play with. Play Doh is fun and messy so be careful with them. I know you have yoyos but I sent some anyway and charmed them to light up when you use them. Silly Putty is fun as well and you can put it on comics and it takes a copy of it onto itself and you can see it when you lift the silly putty off. I put a hacky sack in there as well so have Dean teach you how to use it, I talked to him when I was there for the game so I know he knows how to play.

The Nerf darts are harmless but fun and is assured of getting taken away by Filch. Sirius added some charmed remote control race cars for you to show Hogwarts and the elves. If she liked the Slinkies, she will enjoy them as well I think. For outside fun, I also placed some charmed remote controlled airplanes for you to play with. Have Dean or one of the other Muggle-Born students show you how to play with those.

Sirius says that they skateboard I am sending you is on the banned list so be careful when you use it. Sirius and Remus and I are working on charming the skateboards to fly instead of relying on the skates so that will be fun to play with I can't wait for that since I used to ride skateboards all the time And while skates are banned I am told that inline skates aren't so have fun learning how to use them.

I think that is enough for now and will see you in a few weeks to see how you did. Remember do well on your tests and Sirius has promised to send you to Quidditch Camp with Harry and Ron this year.

Xander

End Chapter Twenty-One


	22. Chapter 22

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my beta DennSedai for the help with my story

~ooOoo~

"Alright Harry, relax and let your memories do the work for you. You know what you are doing; all we are doing now is training your body to do it." Peter Woodard had his sword out and was trying to spar with Harry, but it was like he was blocked or something, or at least fighting within himself so he couldn't work properly.

"Let go Harry," Xander said in a far off voice; "Let the Force guide you."

Harry moved his sword down and glared at Xander. "Do you mind?"

"Actually no, that is why I'm always in trouble." Xander returned with a grin.

Peter lowered his sword and looked at the two of them.

"Actually he's right in a way." He told a shocked Harry. "You're too tense. Instead of sparing I think we should just work on the Katas I taught you. Start at the beginning and work your way through the Katas then start over again with each pass sinking you into a relaxed state. Keep going until I tell you to quit."

Harry nodded and placed himself into Form 1 Position 1 and took a deep breath to center himself, then began his routine. Each pass, each stretch, he relaxed more and more until he was deep within himself and the forms flowed from one to another before adding more forms and positions than he had already been taught.

Peter let this happen for a bit, before telling Harry to stop, but maintain his meditative state and prepare for the two man forms, striking him slowly and the slowly speeding up.

Xander watched as they sped up to real time fighting and the swords and movements became a blur.

The fighting lasted a good twenty minutes before Harry beat Peter and Xander called a halt. Harry stood back and seemed to become aware of himself again as Xander helped Peter get up.

Xander looked at Harry; "Do you remember what you just did?"

Harry nodded.

"I want you to sink down into yourself like you do when you are meditating and work on calling that up each time you pull a sword or other weapon until you can do it without thinking. Think you can do that?" Xander asked.

Harry shrugged and sat down with the sword in his lap to meditate.

Xander and Peter left the room to let Harry meditate in peace.

Peter looked at him; "If and when he can do that without thinking about it will be when I won't have anything to teach him anymore as far as sword work. That is when we will get into the other weapons. We will head into axes and knives from there and maybe work with him better on staffs."

Xander nodded his head, "Yeah that's what I figured. When he gets better I'll get involved so that he can learn to fight multiple people at the same time."

Xander left to find Sirius while Peter headed up to his room to shower and change.

"Harry is meditating now with his sword, give it a half hour or so before you interrupt and get him to work on his Animagus training." Xander told him.

Sirius nodded to show he agreed and went off to monitor Harry.

~ooOoo~

Xander was at Hogwarts talking to the Headmistress and what was left of the heads of houses.

"I found an excellent head for Slytherin and for the potions position. Her name is Caroline De Winter. I talked to her with Remus and Mrs. Longbottom and we seem to agree that she would be the best. We have set up an appointment for you to talk to her and check her out." Xander told McGonagall. She, herself, had decided to stay on as Headmistress so there would be no problem there.

McGonagall pursed her lips together before nodding and writing the date down so she could remember.

Xander looked at the heads of houses; "Next, I have contacted the Broom Company and they have agreed to gives us the brooms in return for endorsements from the players. I tried to get the same deal with Nimbus, but they wouldn't go for it, thinking that there was no way we would go with an American company and one that was little known about to boot."

Flitwick and Sprout grinned at the thought of getting on equal footing with the Gryffindors for the next season.

"I've been in talks with Madam Hooch and she agrees that if the kids get a chance to go to Quidditch Camp and get pointers from the players like Harry and Ron did, then the game would get better here, so I have set up a time schedule for each team to go to camp so no one would interfere and get the other teams plays. All we need is the parent's permission since I'll be paying for it." Xander told them

Everyone's eyes danced with glee over this and McGonagall handed each both Flitwick and Sprout the letters for their students. She would be sending off the letters to the Slytherin students herself and let each of them decide if they want to go or not so they could rebuild their team.

Once everyone left the room, Xander got into a serious discussion with McGonagall. "I've arranged for the goblins to come in to fix the school so that they have heating in the winter and air-conditioning in the hotter months as well as to fix the areas that are about to fall in. It will take a few years to get it all done, but until then you will have some construction zones you will need to work around."

She nodded her head, they had been talking about it in meetings with the board for a few months and she agreed it would be worth the hassle of moving rooms to teach the students and blocking off areas that are being worked on.

"Is Mr. Patterson going to continue teaching?" He asked her.

"For now, he seemed quite taken with the atmosphere here and decided to continue so we have a contract for at least one more year. He will also be taking over Gryffindor so we won't have to worry about that." She replied.

Xander grinned, that took a load off him. He hadn't been looking forward to the board getting someone else into the position.

"What about the war?" McGonagall asked him.

"We could be better, but at least we aren't literally being eaten alive like we were in the beginning. On the down side, we have found out that Kruft is doing medical experiments on the prisoners like the Nazi did to their prisoners. There are hints that the allies are getting views on the demons we are fighting and are fighting along side of and that are a very bad thing. If a government decides to do a Kruft and start to capture demons good or bad, it won't be long before they discover magic as well and the accords we got after WWII will come to an end."

McGonagall sucked in her breath, it was worse than she had thought. If the accords went then it wouldn't be long before the Secrecy Statutes would be gone as well and the Muggles would be after them.

From there, talk turned to lessons planned and teachers needed. Law and Politics was such a hit, that they were thinking about making it a regular class as an elective. Xander also wanted to see if an art class and or a music class could be made available as well, either as a class or as a club. Dumbledore himself said that it was a magic that they didn't teach here and Xander wanted to change that.

Finally it was time to leave and head back home. Xander took his leave and headed towards the door, when he was stopped by McGonagall.

"Do you think we will actually lose the accords?"

Xander stopped and thought, "It's still in the air and we are using the our allies in the demon community sparingly so that there is less of a chance to be seen. So, not yet and we are working on it to be never."

She nodded her head and he smiled at her to relieve the tension, then turned and left.

End Chapter Twenty-Two


	23. Chapter 23

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my beta DennSedai for the help with my story

~ooOoo~

Kruft leaned back in his chair as he watched the Dementor finish off Voldemort. It had been a simple matter to find where he was hidden and capture him; they only had to follow Crouch to do so.

Crouch was sent to the medical area and was already under their loving care while the other so called Dark Lords and Ladies of Europe were already bending their wills to him.

Yes, soon he would take care of Milosevic as well and turn him into the puppet that Hitler had been to his Master.

This would prove him to the higher courts and get him the help he needed to finish off the ICW and their helpers.

Of course if he had the help now it would be easier and by the time he got the help he wouldn't need it. Lovely Catch 22, he thought to himself.

The demons he had been able to bring forth were lower and middle level and already the ICW and the Watchers were taking them out.

He was now having problems getting more help since none of them wanted to go against the shock troops the Watchers had brought in. It was only the fact that the demons had a ready food source in the camps that allowed him to have the help he had.

He had recruited several of his students when they graduated and his spies were working on the lower years so he had his own troops when the time came.

His biggest worried now was America and Russia, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop when they joined the fight to bring him down.

America already had troops helping the UN Peacekeepers and there was talk of them bringing in their own magical troops, and he was playing close attention to the behemoth that was the Russian magical troops. The Communists may had fallen and taken their government with them, but their troops were nothing to sneeze at and he had learned his lesson on the effects of having a multi front war going on and had vowed to not make that mistake.

The spectacle over with, Kruft left the room and headed back to his office to take care of the paperwork.

~ooOoo~

Xander looked over the papers he had; Kruft was getting more and more aligned with the middle level demons and it was looking bad.

They had already been in talks with America and had word that they would be sending troops to help.

No one wanted to see the accords go and thankfully the American president wasn't a right wing religious fanatic. He had been told what was going on and after some proof had gotten involved with getting the troops needed to fight Kruft.

Russia was making moaning noises about Kruft, but so far had their own problems and had stayed out of it. How long that would last, he had no idea.

England's Prime Minister had been told the truth when he had won the election and was now in talks with Minister Seeley about protection for the regular troops when they were in areas where Kruft had his forces. The same with the other European Ministers.

Xander didn't know if this was a good idea or not since it would mean more people finding out about magic. Everyone was in agreement about keeping the Accords intact and were trying to work out how to do that and yet fight at the same time.

The D&D books that Xander had given the twins were now in high demand from the higher ups so that they can figure out whether or not a particular demon was on their side or the other.

Even the Watchers were asking for a copy.

Silver was going up in price because the governments were asking for bullets and knives with at least a covering of silver.

Xander had given over his designs for wooden bullets and other weapons he had put together when he was in Sunnydale and they were mass producing them left and right.

The magical forces and the Watchers were surreptitiously going around and blessing weapons and bullets to help the forces fight the demons.

Thankfully the Croat part of the war was over with and they now had a union of Croatia and Bosnians to fight against Milosevic and Kruft.

Xander looked at the clock and decided that he had better finish his reports and then head out to see what Sirius and the kids were up to; it was too quiet so he knew they were up to something.

~ooOoo~

"HARRY JAMES POTTER COME BACK HERE!" was the first thing Xander heard as he came in the door from the ICW meeting.

Xander watched as a large wolf ran past him with an irate Sirius chasing after him his mouth and bald head foaming pretty colors.

Xander snickered as he watched Sirius change into Padfoot so that he could run better which made it even funnier since, as Padfoot, he had purple stripes and bald lines all over his body.

Xander couldn't hold it in any longer and leaned against the wall laughing. Xander shook his head and headed in to get his soda and then to change clothes, before realizing that Harry had changed forms.

He whooped and started to go after them so that he could congratulate Harry on a job well done.

Xander found them in the gym area and watched as Sirius was dunked into the pool by Harry. Xander watched as the pool changed colors to match Sirius' hair which made it even funnier.

Xander waved to Harry and watched as he changed back into human form to come and tried to hide behind him.

Sirius came over and tried to get around Xander to get Harry, but Xander looked at him and said; "I think this repays you for the prank you pulled yesterday.

Sirius could see he wouldn't have any help there so he mumbled something and turned to go out the door and back up to his room.

"You missed it in all that running and such, but Harry here changed forms showing he is now an Animagus." Xander told him before he could get out.

Sirius stopped, then thought for a moment, then whooped and went to grab Harry who was still hiding behind Xander.

"This calls for a party don't you think?" Xander told both of them. Harry nodded his head grinning while Sirius laughed and headed back to his room to get ready.

~ooOoo~

Xander had rented a large room at the Leaky Cauldron for the party and had Tom and his staff cater it.

He had several of Harry's class mates (and not just Gryffindor either, but Hufflepuff and a few Slytherin he had made friends with as well as Lisa Turpin from Ravenclaw since she was friendly with the group)

None of which knew the real reason for the party was the fact that Harry was now an Animagus. They thought that the party was just a way to get friends over for fun.

Xander called out to everyone in the room; "Listen up! I have been in talks with the board and McGonagall and it has been decided that each team will be going to Quidditch Camp so that they can be a better team and make the game more exciting, so you better work hard when you go to camp the first week of July for Hufflepuff, the second week for Slytherin, the third week for Gryffindor, and the final week for Ravenclaw."

Yells and grins could be seen and heard throughout the room.

Xander held up his hands for quiet. "Now for those of you, who are lamenting that you can't go because of funds, never fear Xander is here. I have paid for each team to go and for the Slytherins who want to go so that they can try out for their team this coming year as well."

More cheers rang out and confetti was thrown around the room.

~ooOoo~

Xander led Harry over to Madam Bones where she had a book in hand.

"This is the registry and I need you to sign this paperwork to make everything legal. Your guardian has already supplied the pictures and descriptions so you don't have to worry about that, I just need you to fill out you name and age when you first changed, and then your signature.

Harry happily signed and handed the book back to her.

"Congratulations Harry on being the first of your generation to change." She smiled at him and headed out to the other room where the other adults were holding court.

Upon hearing this, the twins sneaked up to Harry and wrapped their arms around him.

"You know Harry…"

"You will have to tell us…"

"How you did this so that…"

"So we can do it…"

"As well." The twins finished together.

"You'll have to talk to Padfoot about that since he is the one who trained me." He told them.

The twins looked feral for a moment, and then they turned and headed to Sirius.

~ooOoo~

Molly wasn't sure she could handle the twins and Ron being away. It was quiet…too quiet. She knew she was being ridiculous, the boys were off at Potter Manor and Ginny was off to a friend's house so she should be relaxed right?

She sighed and got up to fix some tea, thinking about what was bothering her, when it came to her; "The twins were with the Marauders! Oh nothing good could come from this." She lamented.

~ooOoo~

Xander had on his goggles and was looking around, hoping to catch the enemy before he was caught himself.

He sniffed the air…There…He pointed his gun at the boulder and watched while trying to get a good shot on the person on the other side of the boulder before ducking and jumping then rolling to come up facing the enemy he had almost let get behind him.

He fired then restocked and fired again before getting them and the stalking horse behind the boulder.

"#$%! You win again!" Shouted Sirius.

Xander grinned as he took off his goggles and holstered his paintball gun.

The twins were on the ground hamming up their death scenes and Harry was wiping the paint from his head.

Sirius cleaned the mess that was Harry's hair, "accidentally" getting rid of the hair while doing it.

Harry just shrugged and told him it would regrow.

Xander slapped him on the back and they got the twins up from their moment of death and headed back to the manor to clean up for supper.

Xander had been training Harry and the others in the art of tracking and teamwork when hunting and, while they still needed work, they *were* doing better at it. It was a sneaky way to teach them but it was working. They had almost caught him today, as such it was time to change partnerships and take Harry onto his team and work on him using both his human form and his Animagus form in tracking and capturing his foe. He would work on the alternative later when he was older.

End Chapter Twenty-Three


	24. Chapter 24

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

**This chapter was done by Halla**

Sorry about the lateness of the chapter, RL hit

I would like to thank my friend Halla for this chapter, I could not write a good fight scene to save my life.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my beta DennSedai for the help with my story

~ooOoo~

Kwaaddoener was what they called him in Africa, evil doer, and he liked it better than the name he had been born with. Apartheid, well he had been there, as well as numerous wars and ethnic cleansings –helping things along and feeding his love of bloodshed and misery at the same time. He didn't start these things, mind you, but he was there to prolong them and cause as much human suffering as he could along the way. He loved the rush it gave him; happiness to him was another's agony of spirit. Sometimes he felt he should have been born a Dementor or demon so he could feed more fully.

Now there was a new game in town, to the north, in Bosnia, and a new master to serve who promised riches such as he had scarcely dared dream of to this point. Life was good.

~ooOoo~

Evil hung about the bombed out ruins, blurring the soul like a thick fog would blur the vision. You could feel it seep through your clothes and skin to chill your bones, Xander thought as he picked his way through the rubble. It seemed that not only bits of stone, but bits of bone and bits of shattered dreams and shattered lives lay in his path as he worked his way slowly forward, listening through the ghostly screams of the place for sounds of the present that would tell him that his quarry was near.

Xander, Sirius, and Remus were hunting. The boys were at Quidditch Camp and they had been called in to take care of this new servant of Kruft's.

Kwaaddoener was what he went by, evil by name and evil by nature. Last seen working with the warlords in Somalia, he had been drawn to Kruft as a hyena was drawn to a rotting corpse. He was a follower, not a leader, thank whatever gods were listening today –his style was to show up in a situation already in progress and help to make it worse. And they had a situation in progress, brother did they! Today's mission was to find him and take him out.

They knew he was here somewhere, but here covered a lot of territory with many, many places to hide; they had split up to cover the ground more efficiently, Xander taking the middle and Remus to his right and Sirius to his left. Xander had taken the middle because it took him through the center of the bombed out village where the footing was the most treacherous. His staff was good for things other than magic sometimes.

So it went, silent scramble from cover to cover, every sense alert for something amiss, something that would tell him where his quarry lay. Remus and Sirius were doing the same. He would be wary, they were sure, but he shouldn't be warned that they were coming. They had the advantage of surprise. They thought he was alone right now. Xander hoped they were right on both counts.

The scream told him he was near.

Xander couldn't tell if it was human or animal, just that someone or something was in terrible agony. Well that should bring Remus and Sirius to me, Xander thought. No need to risk giving away that he was here by signaling them. Though his gut cried that he should run right in and save whatever was making those desperate noises, Xander moved slowly and silently until he could peer around what was left of a wall and see what was going on.

At least it's an animal, pulling back and refusing his stomach's request to vomit. He had indeed come upon Kwaaddoener's camp. The noise was Kwaaddoener preparing the rabbit he had caught for his dinner. He was skinning it alive.

Funny, how evil cannot look like what it is, Xander thought. Kwaaddoener had a bland face that you wouldn't remark upon in the market place, white hair, mild blue eyes that, while surrounded by crow's feet, had no hint of madness nor malice and, perhaps worst of all, a pleasant smile on his face as he carried out his brutal work. Xander would have guessed him on the younger side of fifty if he didn't know that the man had magically extended his life and was well over a century.

He had his wand stuck through his belt, Xander recalled from his glimpse, and a six inch blade in his hand. The other hand held the rabbit and there was a wood chopping axe near the pile of fire wood. His favored spell was Crucio until he had his fill of the screams and then he finished them off with the death spell, from what Xander had heard.

First thing, get the wand away from him, Xander thought. But how? When all else fails, try the direct approach, he decided.

"Kwaaddoener, we've been looking for you", Xander announced in what he hoped was a suitably menacing tone, as he stepped out from behind the cover of the partially standing wall, staff in hand. Perhaps, he thought belatedly, he should have waited until the others showed up. But surely they were on their way and he couldn't stand the whimpering screams of the suffering rabbit any more.

Kwaaddoener dropped the rabbit and knife and reached for his wand as he rose from his heels to stand. His mouth began to form the shape of the spell, but Xander didn't let him get the word out.

"Expelliarmous" he shouted, thrusting his staff towards the other wizard, and was rewarded by seeing the man's wand go flying out of his hand. Xander caught it mid-flight in a play that would have made any major league player envious. He paused to break it in half, setting of fireworks from it that would have made Fred and George wonder how they could recreate them for sale. That had gone well, Xander thought, dropping the still smoldering pieces of the wand to the ground. Remus and Sirius had to know where he was and that he was in a fight by now.

"You're under arre..." he started to say, still partially blinded from the sparks he had set off. But his instincts from Hellmouth served him well. He automatically stepped to the side and brought his staff up to block the haft of the axe that was being aimed at his skull by Kwaaddoener. In a counter move he swung the staff to take Kwaaddoener's legs out from under him. But the other jumped out of the way.

"I repeat, by the power vested in me by the ICW, you are under arrest," Xander roared, his vision slowly returning as he regarded the older man standing at the ready a few yards away. "For committing crimes against humanity…"

Xander parried and counter- thrusted several more blows from an opponent that was suddenly too close again.

"…against the Wizarding world…," Xander got a little bit more in before the next attack came. Hang it, most wizards would surrender when they lost their wands. This one had to be different!

"Oh, stow it, sonny! And you can take you're ICW and Humanity and The Wizarding World and stick them where the sun doesn't shine!" Kwaaddoener cursed.

Again Xander twisted and parried. He was rewarded by a woof of escaping air when his staff struck Kwaaddoener's ribs but took a nasty clout to his own shoulder from the flat of the axe in return.

"… For helping to summon demons into this world…" Xander got in between blows. The man was good! He certainly had kept in shape and fighting trim over the years, more than Xander could say about most wizards.

"You'll never take me alive" Kwaaddoener inserted.

Xander rolled to avoid the next blow and as he came to his feet drove the end of his staff into his opponent's stomach. That sent Kwaaddoener flat on his back, but he bounced back up like a man in his prime and got off a blow that would have split Xander in half had he not blocked in time.

"..And various other crimes too numerous to mention here!" Xander finished triumphantly. He was getting out of breath trying to bring this old fool down. And where were Remus and Sirius? "And if you were going to kill me, you'd have done it when you got the drop on me." Kwaaddoener panted. "But you Good Guys don't use _those_ Curses." The old fool was getting out of breath trying to bring Xander down, too.

Kwaaddoener made another rush. Enough of this, Xander thought, as he parried and feinted a return blow.

"Stupefy," he yelled thrusting the tip of his staff Kwaaddoener's way.

The results were spectacular. Kwaaddoener went flying over the wood pile, the axe spinning and twisting out of his hands to land twenty feet away. But he didn't stay down, any more than he had when Xander had slammed him in the stomach with his staff a minute ago. He rolled neatly to his feet, coming up with the bloody knife he had been using on the rabbit just moments before and charged Xander again.

Kwaaddoener slashed with the knife and while Xander tried to evade he felt the cold blade slice through his jacket, his shirt and his skin to play a xylophonic melody on several of his ribs. He could feel the blood begin to flow down his side.

He brought the staff down with all his might on Kwaaddoener's head and the man fell to the stony ground. He wasn't going to get up this time, not with his skull crushed in like that. It was over.

Xander leaned on his staff, weak with shock from the wound and adrenaline letdown. At that point Remus and Sirius arrived, running up all out of breath.

"You're late", Xander snarled, holding his injured side as the blood continued to flow.

"We came as fast as we could when we heard the screams," Remus panted. "It's only been a minute"

"And then we saw a fire show of sparks a few seconds later and knew you were in trouble," Sirius added.

"Why didn't you wait for us," they both demanded in one voice... "He could have killed you, or worse," Sirius finished.

"I thought..." Xander began, then stopped and considered.

"I don't know what I thought," he finished. "I'll tell you about it while you fuss over my wound" Remus was doing just that.

"It's just a flesh wound", Remus judged. "But it's long and nasty."He healed the cut; "you'll have a beaut of a scar. You talk, I'll clean this up."

And they did just that.

End Chapter 24


	25. Chapter 25

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Everyone was worried when a limping Xander picked them up at the Quidditch camp entrance on Saturday but Xander just brushed them off and pulled out a rope for them to hold onto, portkeying them to Orlando Florida.

The family had had a discussion as to where to have Harry's birthday party again and had decided to hold it like last year only bringing the rest of the family so they were off again to Disneyworld and the surrounding parks with the boys showing everyone their favorite places.

Each person got a credit card like before and Hermione's parents were with them and used their own cards and had given her a card as well.

Mr. Weasley was in heaven with all the Muggle entertainment going on and at the end of the week when they went to Cape Canaveral and watched the Space Shuttle launch he was to the point where he could have launched a Corporal Patronus he was so happy.

They spent the day going through the museum and Mr. Weasley got posters for the Burrow of the earth as taken from space and the moon before they headed back to their hotel.

The next day Xander had everyone pack and they headed not to the airport, but to the port where the ships were, there he handed everyone a ticket to a Disney Cruise ship and herded them up the gangplank to their next destination a cruise to the Bahamas.

Xander figured that they were old enough to get their own suites so everyone was stretched out on deck 8 with views of the ocean and hot tubs on the verandas.

Rumor had it that this was the last year for this company to hold the cruises for Disney and that Disney was going with their own lines starting next year so they would have to do this again to see if there was a difference.

~ooOoo~

After they were underway, Xander had them meet in his room for a meeting.

They came in and sat around the living room section of his suite and he handed out folders to everyone and when he got to Neville he told him that he had already briefed his grandmother on this so he didn't have to worry about trying to brief her later.

"Okay, welcome to the first meeting of the LionClaw shareholders, because we are meeting here I am able to write off a lot of this on our business taxes so enjoy the trip." There was laughter around as everyone glanced through the folders.

"If you'll turn to page 5, we'll start off with B&P Loan and Trust." Everyone turned to the page and looked it over.

"As you can see it's not making much money right now and what it is making is being plowed right back into the business, there is a reason for that. Malfoy, in his wisdom decided to have everyone but his friends and cronies pay close to 45 percent in interest for their loans and it was costing the people businesses and livelihoods. We've cut the loans back to 4 percent originally and given the people refunds on the payments they made at the old percentage rate allowing many of the old loans to be paid off. This allowed for spending and with the new loan rate of 4 percent allowed for new businesses to open. The goblins kept track of the inflation index and when it looked like inflation was going to start with all the new spending we upped the interest to 5percent which helped. They raised their interest rate to 5 percent as well for loans to the Ministry and together we have pretty much kept inflation down for now.

If you turn to page 12 you can see a map of Diagon as it is now as well as picture we took of the overcrowding on a busy day. The Alley Alliance, which used to be run by the Malfoys, the Longbottoms, and the Potters, as well as the Shopkeepers Guild and headed by Malfoy, is now run by Sirius, me, Mrs. Longbottom, and the Shopkeepers Guild. We decide what shops to bring in and what upkeep is done with the taxes the shops pay to the alliance. Now Malfoy only wanted to pocket the money and didn't want to spend any money which is why no new shops were put up unless he was forced to do so. Even when there WAS money for it, so rats and other vermin started to populate the market. Complaints were made, but as long as he was in charge nothing could happen.

NOW, we have the goblins coming in after the school rush and expanding the Alleyways to twice their size which will allow for growth and will allow for the widening of the alleys so less congestion. We will be putting in light posts for lighting at dusk and night so less chance of thievery, and we will also be following the mandates of the Wizengamot by putting in new Auror stations. If you will turn the page you will see a mock up of what the alleys will look like after we are done." Everyone turned the page and looked seeing a bigger alleyway and a lot more shops as well as a few more side alleys.

"LionClaw and the Longbottoms will own the new shops coming in and we have already presold many of the shops as you will note on the page they are posted in red and the regular shops are posted in black."

Everyone looked and noticed that two thirds of the new shops were already sold.

"Now the ones done in purple are shops that will deal in Technomancy which is basically Muggle tech and Wizard magic done together. These are things like CD Walkmans and Computers as wells as music stores and such with the tech working on both magic and batteries or electricity which gets them around the Statute of Secrecy laws.

We checked and got them Ok'ed."

Everyone looked at Mr. Weasley and he shook his head, "they must have checked with the Misuse office because they didn't check with me."

Xander nodded his head; "we didn't want any notes of impropriety so we didn't even tell him that Arthur was a member of the board just that we were thinking of putting in businesses."

"We are also upgrading the wards which should have been done under Malfoy so that the fire hazards and the pests are under control."

"Now on page 34 you will see our investment portfolio is strong. Right now we are mostly invested in the tech stocks with some in other stocks as well, we made enough money off of these investments that it basically paid for the this vacation including Quidditch camp and the one coming up in a year or so I've labeled DVD market will definitely pay off since we are getting in on the ground floor. Basically this will be what CD disks are to music tapes; Movies will be put onto disks and will be hardier so you don't have to worry about the tape breaking as easy just about fingerprints and scratches like with CDs. DVD players will be expensive at first as with all new tech, but with time the price WILL go down and some, just like VCR players, every Muggle house will have one or want more than one. These same companies also do the Muggle VHS movies so we have an investment in them whether the DVDs go well or not though I think the DVDs will take off."

Everyone nodded at this liking the fact that they were invested in the VHS since that was what they were used to and only the Grangers seeing the big picture of the DVDs possibilities.

"Now on page 50, I would like to know what you think of the proposal to redo the Daily Prophet. I am getting irked that there is no real news service for the UK. Should we rework the Daily Prophet or open a new daily paper?"

Everyone read the pros and cons of both proposals that he had drawn up and then began to debate the question.

~ooOoo~

It was finally decided to keep the Daily Prophet and bring in a news paper with Xander getting in touch with the people he had contacted to do the paper.

They decided to call it the London Magical Times after the New York paper they had read while in America it would have Magical and Muggle news as well as the stock market news and sports news as well as special interest sections.

~ooOoo~

The next day they landed at Disney's Private Island and enjoyed learning to scuba dive and play in the surf and the following day they headed to Nassau where they played tourist , then back to the Island and to Florida where they flew to New York and then home.

~ooOoo~

From the airport they headed to the Leaky Cauldron in the shuttle cabs and from there the portkeyed to Potter Manor where everyone hit their rooms to sleep off the jet lag

The next afternoon Xander got everyone up and going with a good brunch of French toast and eggs as well as bacon (for Hedwig as well as the others) and ham and juice, before getting everyone ready to go to the theater to see The Fugitive with Harrison Ford the twins (and Sirus') hero. Afterwards they headed back to Pizza Hut near the Leaky Cauldron for dinner and then home.

End Chapter 25


	26. Chapter 26

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

This chapter was done by my co-writer Halla

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

The name she was born with was Eve Haley, but nobody knew that. And she was going to keep it that way, because she knew who she truly was. She was Morganna, the Morrigon. It wasn't wise to point out to her that they were two different people from two different mythologies, either. The last person who had done that ended up as a fly in a room full of frogs. So her servants and associates called her Mistress M and Kruft just called her "my lovely".

Mistress M adored Kruft, not just because he called her lovely, but because he was going to rule the world. He would be unable to do it without her help, of course, but together they would be Master and Mistress of the whole world.

That's why she was on this mission for him, not that he'd sent her or anything like that. She'd just seen a need and was filling it. He had been complaining about what trouble the Watcher's council had been to him. Since she was well able to deal with such trifles herself, she had taken it upon herself to deal with them for Kruft. He would be so surprised and pleased!

~ooOoo~

Jake had a theory. His theory was that even the Devil himself had to go out into the freezing rain to have his stinking cigarette. And there wouldn't be any adequate shelter to smoke in in Hades, either.

So there Jake stood, twenty five feet from the door of Watcher Central, trying to keep his cigarette dry while he, himself, got wetter and wetter. So he was very surprised when he looked up and saw the figure of a woman standing not five feet away from him. Whomever she was, she wasn't a demon -of that much he was certain. She was beautiful in an oldish sort of way, well maybe fiftish Jake thought but that was old to his twenty nine and she was about his height, say maybe five foot nine, with a long mane of wild white hair. She was protected from the rain by an all-enveloping cloak, but the hood was thrown back so he could see her face clearly. A magic user, Jake thought. They had a couple on the team and they were nuttier than Aunt Betty's Christmas fruitcake, or so Jake thought

But what was she doing here? He dropped his cigarette and started to reach for his walkie-talkie, but then he saw her eyes and froze. Rasputin had eyes like that, a dim part of his mind that wasn't transfixed by her stare thought. But that part of his mind was no longer in control, no matter how much it wanted him to finish that reach and call for help.

He stood there, unable to look away even as he saw more cloaked figures materializing around her. This is trouble that little part of his mind screamed. Call for help, it begged, but he could do nothing as she threw back the hood of her cloak.

"Hound, we have a rabbit here," she said, without breaking eye contact with Jake, although she wasn't talking to him -that was certain. Jake felt his fur standing up all over his body and his ears were standing up listening to every word and sound as his nose twitched madly. Wait a minute the remaining free part of his brain said -fur, ears, nose -what's going on, as the woman made a gesture and said a word that Jake didn't understand. It seemed to Jake that they were suddenly getting bigger, or maybe it was that he was getting smaller. In any case, they suddenly loomed over him like giants. It broke the eye contact with her though and his one thought was to get away, to get help.

"Hound, do you want to have a bit of fun?"

"Oh, please, may I Mistress M," said the heavy jowled man at her right.

This doesn't bode well for me, thought the last free corner of Jake's mind. Jake started to run, or rather, he found, hop away. But there was something following him, something much bigger that he and his twitching nose said it was a dog.

"Run, rabbit, run" he heard her voice call.

Jake ran for his life.

~ooOoo~

Something was battering at the second floor hall window, trying to get in. Mike drew his gun and advanced slowly towards the window. There hadn't been any warning of demons, not that he'd heard, but the windows were shuttered tight against attacks and what in the blazes that wasn't an attack would want in through the second floor window, for pity's sake.

Whatever it was sounded like fluttering wings and thumping against the shutters. A bird was all Mike could think it could be. But why would a bird want in? Then the light dawned in Mike's mind and he remoistened his gun with a sigh and started to unlatch the window.

"I think we've got an owl, " called over his shoulder to those downstairs and sure enough a great horned owl flew in and swooped down the stairs as Mike opened the shutters and then quickly reclosed them once the bird was in.

"Just what's wrong with the telephone…?" Mike muttered, as he headed downstairs after the bird. "Limey, you've got mail!"

~ooOoo~

"But I can't get it off his leg, Limey was explaining to Captain Montgomery as Mike got into the main ops room. Limey was rather conservatively dressed today in a pair of pinstriped trousers and a purple paisley silk shirt, with a Dodger's cap on his head. "See, he won't let me close. It's not meant for me. It's meant for you."

Now who in the seven levels would be sending me an owl," Captain Montgomery demanded of Limey. Montgomery was a big man and he stood for no nonsense in the ranks and owls and magic users were in his book nonsense.

"You'll have to open your letter to find out" Limey said, shrugging. "He's come a long way, he looks tired. I'm sure it's important Cap'n."

"That bird could take half my hand off in one peck," Montgomery replied." I can't think what would be that important that they couldn't just phone me about."

"Those phoney systems of yours are very unreliable," Limey replied, primly. "Owls are much more secure"

"Phones don't leave you with wounds that require fifteen stitches," the captain muttered, but he gingerly reached for the owl. Carefully, he got the thick, folded parchment off the bird's leg, without losing his fingers, and flattened it open. His face fell as he read.

"If his is correct," he said when he' finished. "If this is correct, the watcher station in the UK has fallen to a surprise attack. We're probably next. Limey, how long did this take to get here?" The Captain waved the message at Limey

A few days," Limey said, "maybe more. He had to cross the Atlantic to get here, and then find you."

"So, they could be coming any time," Montgomery swore. "Roust everybody out. We're on high alert. Jake…, where's Jake?"

"He went out for a cigarette," someone volunteered, meekly.

"A cigarette," the Captain moaned. "Those cigarettes will be the death of me, I swear! Get him in here!"

"Yes, sir," said a junior who was standing by the door. He, without further thought, swung the door wide open but he never got to call for Jake. He was blasted across the room by what seemed a bolt of lightning and cloaked figures were streaming through the door he had so conveniently opened for them.

"Take cover," the Captain ordered, taking his own advice and crouching behind a heavy desk as he took aim at the nearest magic use with his gun. He fired and was satisfied to see the man go down, but here were more swarming in -many more. They weren't outnumbered, it looked like, but it was close.

"Fire at will," Montgomery ordered, just in case there were any more stupid juniors out there who needed the order.

~ooOoo~

The battle wasn't going at all well, Mike thought. Their magic users had been taken out like they had no powers at all, so the invaders must be some really high powered stuff. And the invaders didn't seem to have any fear of guns.

Their leader seemed to be a crazy, white haired woman, at least that was who was giving the orders and who they all seemed to be protecting at all costs. So that woman was his target, Mike decided.

He thought he had a shot! Mike took aim, but before he could pull the trigger he heard the sound of claws on the floor and hard breathing. Demon, he thought instinctively as he shifted his aim. But it was a huge hound dog with a bloody muzzle bearing down on him. He fired, and the dead carcass slid to a stop at his feet. But he had drawn the white haired woman's attention. She raised her wand at him as he raised his gun, but she was faster. He fell in excruciating pain. All he could do was lay there and writhe in agony.

~ooOoo~

Captain Montgomery was crouched in what concealment the filing cabinet offered, picking his shots carefully. They were losing, that much was certain. Mike was down, writhing on the floor as if in terrible agony, though from what Montgomery didn't know.

Limey had been taken out almost immediately, and so casually that Montgomery knew these had to be some pretty high level magic users they were dealing with. As had the remaining of their magic users been taken out. Montgomery had seen one opponent turn into a great hound. Mike had shot him, luckily, but what good were bullets when the opposition could make your gun blow up in your hands. That had happened to several of his team already.

Blast it, they were prepared to deal with demons or anything else the seven hells could throw at them. But this… this they were unprepared for, unpracticed for, and probably unable to win.

That white haired woman, she was the key. If he could just take her down, he thought, we could still have a chance of pulling this off. But her people were protecting her fanatically. Well, he was a dead man if he didn't do anything, too.

Montgomery broke from his concealment and rushed the knot of magic users surrounding the witch, firing as fast as he could.

There, those in front of her were down. But she saw him and whipped her wand up and Montgomery felt his heart explode in his chest. His last thought was I missed.

~ooOoo~

Mistress M was not happy. The fight was over, they had won, but then there had been no question that they were going to. What she was not happy about was that her favorite, Hound, had been killed. The man who had done it was still writhing on the floor in the grips of her unspeakable curse. He would stay that way until his heart finally gave out. The rest of them were all dead or dying.

"Leave it" she ordered her remaining people. "We're done here.

She looked sadly one more time at Hound, and then turned and walked out of the watcher station forever


	27. Chapter 27

**Family**

**By Danu40k**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ooOoo~

Xander read the news about the explosion and fall of the Watchers Council and panicked; Travers was dead, Giles was dead, many of the potentials were dead, and the timeline was screwed.

He calmed down and thought; with the timeline basically destroyed, that meant that his younger self, Willow, and Jesse weren't safe and that meant a rescue op.

He went into his room to summon Hallie.

~ooOoo~

Xander paced in the library while Sirius, Remus, and Harry watched. He had told them what he had done, and while they weren't happy about it, they could understand where he was coming from and were waiting with him for the others to show up with Hallie.

Soon a light appeared and out stepped Xander's Willow, Giles, Buffy, and Spike; though Spike paused till Xander told him he was invited, then he stepped in as well.

Willow was 5'4" and 120 pounds with red hair that went down to her shoulder blades; she wore a white peasant blouse with blue flowers on it and a flowered broomstick skirt with lightly heeled boots.

Giles was 6' and 180 pounds with a bit of a belly starting but Xander felt that a little exercise could remedy that, he had brown grey hair that was cut short and blue eyes. He was wearing a collared shirt with a jacket that wasn't tweed for a wonder, and Levis.

Buffy was 5'3" 110 pounds with bleached blond hair, although from the looks of it she was letting her blond locks grow out and showing brown; she wore a tight backless shirt with long skirt and go-go boots.

Spike was 5'9" and fighting trim. He was bleached white hair with a scar over his left eyebrow and a cockney accent.

He was wearing his standard trench coat and t-shirt with Levis and boots.

Xander was happy to see that Tara was with them and so was Oz and several of his pack.

Tara was 5'4" and 118 pounds brown hair down to her shoulder blades and is wearing a matching outfit to Willow's.

Oz was 5'5" and 120 pounds with tie-dye hair and henna on his hands and arms along with bracelets, he is wearing a t-shirt and jeans along with boots.

The light widened for a moment and they belongings showed up including Giles' library and then dimmed and went out leaving them behind.

Willow took one look at Xander and squealed running to him and hugging him for all she was worth with Buffy not far behind.

Giles smiled as he took in the scene while Spike and Oz and Oz's pack looked around.

Willow let go and then poked Xander in the chest; "you left without saying goodbye or even leaving a note buster that is NOT allowed." Buffy was nodding her head to show she agreed, "If it wasn't for Hallie we wouldn't have known what happened to you at all!"

Xander lowered his head; "I'm sorry, when Hallie came up to me I wasn't in a fit state and when she told me that my cousin needed me I didn't think about anything or anyone else and well…"

Willow gave him another hug, then let go and looked at him seeing the tiredness that this new war was creating, but at the same time the love he had for his family; "next time think ok?"

Xander nodded and then introduced everyone to each other with Oz introducing his pack to the group as well.

There was his mate Amber, her brother and second in command Trevor Abrams, his mate Yvonne, Castor Allaway, his mate Robin, Mike Bloodworth, and finally his mate Cathy

Amber was 5'3" 115 pounds with blue hair and green eyes; she wore three earrings in her left ear and two in her right as well as a nose ring and an eyebrow piercing. She was wearing patchwork jeans and a grey t-shirt with tennis shoes.

Trevor was 5'6" and had no piercings though his hair was vivid red with white tips; his eyes were green against his tanned skin. He was wearing Levis and a dragon design t-shirt with boots.

Yvonne was 5'4" with black hair and black/brown eyes; she was black Irish and proud of it. She was wearing a red polo shirt with tan pants and loafers.

Castor was the oldest at 30 and had the laid back grace of the rest of the group. He was 5'8" with grey eyes and blond hair. He was wearing a collared shirt with Levis and boots.

Robin was the mother hen of the group and the healer as well, having studied healing from childhood with her clan and then again in Tibet; she was 5'6" and big boned and muscled as well as big personality allowing her to make sure you obeyed her when she was healing you (or at least not argue with her)

Mike was the hunter of the group and the quietest if that was possible; he was 6' and 200 pounds of muscle. His job was to see to it the pack had meat while his wife Cathy's job was to see to the rest of the table and they worked seamlessly together

Cathy was 5'5" and currently 5 months pregnant, not that she let that get in the way of doing her job. She knew her husband and Robin had seen the wolf Remus and between the three of them they could get him back in shape and healthy, that, along with the rest of the pack helping to get his wolf under control, and he could lead them to the rest of the wolves on the island; women, children, old folk, back woods folk, basically all the folk who weren't hot heads and heading off to fight with the bad guy in Bosnia. Just the sort they needed to make things work in their favor.

~ooOoo~

Xander had everyone sit around the fireplace while the house elves put their things in their rooms and put Giles books away (Xander had to explain house elves to the group so they wouldn't confuse them with demons), once drinks and snacks were served, Xander, with help from Sirius and Remus, began to update the Scooby's as to the currant problem.

~ooOoo~

"I can see why you are worried," Giles told Xander and the group as he took off his glasses to clean, "Honestly I don't remember a Kruft in our timeline so he must only be in this one, and with the destruction of the Council…" He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment and then put his glasses back on.

Xander took a sip of his firewhiskey; "Well," he began, "It's not all bad news, the Russians are bringing in the magical troops to fight. Seems they take a dim view of Kruft, this latest stunt reminds them too much of Grindelwald and they want to nip him in the bud before he can start another world war."

At the curious looks from his friends Remus explains Grindelwald and WWII to the group getting a pissed off Willow since he was Hitler's right hand man Himmler in disguise.

~ooOoo~

Dinner came and with it more talk about what had been going on, this time from the Scooby's; turns out the Hellmouth had closed with the death of Glory and Dawn so all they had been doing for the last several months was cleaning up. When Hallie had come to them telling them of the war and the Council's demise they had eagerly packed up and said their goodbyes to Angel and crew and left.

Now they were just waiting on Hallie to bring the younger version of Xander and Willow as well as Jesse from this realm's Hellmouth so they could make sure they were safe.

Hallie was also going to see to the Mayor so he couldn't add to the problem later since there were many who hated Kruft and his allies including D'Hoffryn.

If demons became known there would be hunts not only of demons harmful or friendly but of humans which could turn into war and he wasn't prepared for Armageddon

~ooOoo~

The next morning, on their way to breakfast, they all heard a noise and headed to the library where they saw a bright light and stepping out of the light came young Xander, Jesse, and young Willow followed by Hallie.

"That was so cool," bounced young Xander with Jesse and young Willow bouncing and looking around beside him.

Older Xander smiled at them and opened his arms to encompasses the entire building, "welcome to Potter Manor in the UK. I am an older version of Xander and as far as everyone here is concerned young Xander's older cousin, next to me is Willow and again younger Willow's cousin, and then there is Giles, Oz, his pack, whom I'll let him introduce, Sirius, Remus, and my cousin nephew Harry. Xander you're related to him through me."

Young Xander nodded and looked at everyone memorizing faces while Willow bounced around looking at the library and Jesse kept an eye on her to make sure she was safe.

Older Xander then looked at Hallie and she nodded, the mayor and Sunnydale were taken care of.

Older Xander clapped his hands together; "so who wants breakfast?"

End Chapter 27


End file.
